The grieving mother of a young woman who was cut down in broad daylight by a man wielding a samurai sword is outraged after he appealed his life sentence for her daughter’s murder.
Basak Cengiz, 28, did not know her attacker and was picked at random by Can Goktug Boz, who proceeded to murder her with the samurai sword in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, on 9th November 2021.
Boz was jailed for life in April, with the sentence upheld in early October, but he has now appealed again, with Basak’s distraught mum reportedly saying: “Whatever their objections, wherever they may be, they will not be able to pervert the course of Turkish justice.”
It is the second appeal from Boz and his lawyers. The Istanbul Anatolian 4th High Criminal Court sentenced the samurai killer to aggravated life imprisonment for murder and 5 years in prison for possessing unlicensed weapons and making threats.
The case first concluded on 22nd April 2022 but Boz’s lawyers objected to the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice, claiming that the penalty was excessive.
The District Court of Appeals then dismissed the appeal for the first time.
And now, Boz’s lawyers have appealed to the Supreme Court.
The lawyer of the Cengiz family, Mustafa Tırtır, has also submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, demanding that the defendant’s lawyers’ appeal be rejected.
Basak was an architect and was set to get married when she was attacked at random while walking down the street, as can be seen in this disturbing CCTV footage.
Boz, wielding a 75-centimetre (30-inch) samurai sword, cut her down without a word and later confessed that he picked her despite not knowing her as he wanted to kill a woman “because it is easier”.
Basak was employed as an architect in the Turkish capital city of Ankara, but had travelled to the city of Istanbul, where she ended up being killed, for a work assignment.
She had missed the shuttle bus between her office and hotel, so she decided to walk when she met her attacker and was murdered in the street.
The attacker had told prosecutors last year: “On the day of the incident, I was feeling frustrated and depressed. I acted in a moment of anger.”
He said that he was convinced that killing someone would make himself feel better, and added: “I chose to kill a woman because it is easier to kill a woman. I don’t know the victim.
“The sword was in the bag, and after I saw the victim, I walked after her, and when I caught up, I took the sword out of my bag and stabbed her four times.
“Then I went home, and my sadness and feelings of depression melted away. I’m not normally that kind of person, so I’m surprised at myself. I regret what I did.”
The murder weapon was found in his apartment and there were also phrases on the walls written by him that caught the cops’ attention, such as “stab them in the stomach”, “set a trap” and “kill those who argue”.
A life sentence in Turkey is 24 years in prison, whereas an aggravated life sentence is what was introduced to replace the death penalty. Prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment can be paroled after serving at least 30 years, or 36 years if given more than one sentence.
Femicide is a growing problem in Turkey, particularly after the country officially quit the Istanbul Convention in July last year.
According to the 2021 Annual Data Report announced by the ‘We Will Stop Femicide Platform’, 280 women were killed by men in 2021, while 217 women were found suspiciously dead.
According to data from the ‘Monument Counter’, which is “a digital memorial for women killed by violence” and is updated daily, 331 femicides have taken place in Turkey so far this ye
