A court in Turkey has given three men from China at least 30 years in prison each for the mysterious abduction and murder of a countrywoman, whom they put in a suitcase and buried in a shallow grave.
The 23rd High Criminal Court in Bakirkoy, Istanbul sentenced Yunuscan Turkistanli, Huseyin Ahmed and Adbuvahap Abdurrahman to aggravated life imprisonment over the bizarre incident, which saw them stage a car crash in order to kidnap their victim.
The victim – Lisha Yu, 31 – lived in Fatih, Istanbul with her boyfriend, who is also a Chinese citizen. She worked for an import business.
She left her hotel in Kucukcekmece, Istanbul by car when the three men started following her in another vehicle in October 2019.
They intentionally crashed into her from behind – as seen in this footage – and pretended it was an accident.
But when she got out of her vehicle, they snatched her and took her to an address in Sultanbeyli, Istanbul.
There, Turkistanli and Abdurrahman put her in a suitcase and took her to Sogut, Bilecik Province, which lies more than three hours away from Istanbul by car.
According to prosecutors, Lisha likely died inside the suitcase.
They then buried her in a two-foot-deep grave on a plot of land belonging to Tamuygur.
When the suspects were arrested, they were found with pickaxes and shovels.
When questioned and throughout the trial, the guilty three maintained their innocence.
During the trial, Turkistanli baffled the court by explaining that the victim owed money to a man with the first name Abdulselam.
He explained that Abdulselam was still on the run and directly pleaded with him to turn himself in.
It is not believed that authorities in Turkey are seeking anyone matching Abdulselam’s description.
Turkistanli told the court: “Even though I had nothing to do with it, I regret that someone died.”
The defendants were described as “Uyghurs”, “foreign nationals”, and “from East Turkestan” in reports. It is therefore inferable that they were also Chinese citizens.
In Turkey, defendants sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment can only be paroled after serving at least 30 years.
The three were also given four years behind bars each for ‘deprivation of liberty’ on top of their ‘premeditated killing’ convictions.
It is not clear if their sentences will run concurrently or if each must serve a minimum of 34 years.
The case against suspect Abdulgaffar Tamuygur was dropped, as he died during the prosecution phase, and co-defendant Kasim Yarkenli was acquitted of all charges.
