The prosecution in a trial on Friday over the murder of a Turkish nationalist demanded life in prison for the gunman and two other defendants who drove him to and from the scene of the crime.

Sinan Ateş, an academic who led the nationalist youth organization Idealist Hearths – known as the "Grey Wolves" – from 2019-2020, was shot dead in an Ankara street in broad daylight in December 2022 while he was walking next to a relative, who survived the attack.

Eray Özyağcı, the man accused of firing the fatal shot, Vedat Balkaya and Suat Kurt are facing aggravated life sentences each for "voluntary manslaughter."

At a hearing at a heavy penal court in the capital Ankara, the prosecution demanded life in prison for two other defendants, Doğkan Çep, alleged to have organized the armed attack, and Tolgahan Demirbaş, a former leader of the Idealist Hearths, for the "premeditated and deliberate killing of the victim as a group, as instigators of the crime."

The prosecution also sought prison sentences for 17 other defendants on charges of "voluntary manslaughter of the victim as perpetrators abetting a crime committed by a group."

The Ankara court ruled to request missing information and documents from the prosecution and adjourned the second hearing to Sept. 30.

Özyağcı who in the first hearing claimed he shot Ateş over a personal feud, said he was instigated by Çep who admitted to doing so. Çep later claimed he hadn’t gone to the scene of the crime with the intention to murder Ateş.

Both defendants claimed they had shot at Ateş’s feet and said they believed the academic was shot by Selman Bozkurt, his relative who was with him on the day of the murder.

The case has stirred up quite a controversy in Türkiye, with opposition parties implying that the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) associated with the Hearths may have been involved in the murder. Lawyers for the MHP sought to attend the first hearing of the trial in a maximum-security prison-courthouse complex on July 1 to defend against the accusations, but the court rejected their involvement.

Leaders of opposition parties, from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) to the Good Party (IP), attended the hearing to support the widow of Ateş, who repeatedly called authorities for an in-depth investigation. Ayşe Ateş, who recently met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has sought protection, claiming she was being threatened.

Ayşe Ateş wants a parliamentary commission to probe the case.