24 prison officers detained over killing of 20-year old student Özgecan Aslan’s murderer


Turkish police detained 24 prison officers on Sunday in relation to the killing of the murderer of Özgecan Aslan, the young girl whose brutal killing deeply shocked Turkey in February, 2015.

The prison officers were detained by the homicide bureau officers in southern Adana province and taken to the police department to testify on the murder of 26-year-old Ahmet Suphi Altındöken, who was killed in an armed attack by prison inmates in Adana Kürkçüler prison.

On April 11, Altındöken and his father Necmettin Altındöken were shot in the prison. The convicts were then transferred to Adana Numune Education and Research Hospital,. Initial reports suggested that the father was wounded by two and the son was shot by one bullet. Suphi Altındöken died of his wounds at the hospital, while Necmettin Altındöken remains in critical condition.

Following the cabinet meeting on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş stated that the murder of someone in prison, regardless of their identities, is unacceptable. Kurtulmuş said that the issue will be investigated and details on how the weapon was brought into the prison will be brought to light.

Özgecan Aslan was stabbed and beaten to death on February 11, 2015 by Suphi Altındöken, who was the driver of the minibus she was in, for resisting a rape attempt. Altındöken then called his father Necmettin and friend Fatih Gökçe, to help him dispose the body by burning it and cutting her hands off so that the DNA samples of her murderer could not be found.

When Aslan's body was found on Feb. 13, the incident sparked a massive public outrage amid the increased number of cases of violence against women.