A woman has been jailed for 20 years for murdering her special operations police officer husband, despite her protesting that she only did it to protect her own life.
Yasemin Citil, 31, was found guilty of the murder of her husband of five years, named as Emrullah Citil, 32, and with whom she has a one-year-old son.
The incident took place at the family home in the district of Tekkekoy, in Samsun Province in north-central Turkey, on 15th July 2021.
On that day, the woman reportedly told her husband she wanted a divorce, causing him to fly into a rage, strangling her and poking his fingers in her eyes.
However, she managed to take his work gun and fired six shots at the special ops cop.
The man fell from the property’s first-floor balcony onto the pavement, and while he was lying prone on the concrete, his wife then fired two more shots at him.
Paramedics who were alerted to the incident came to the scene and took the wounded man to hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries.
The defendant told the court in her final statement: “I seek refuge in the conscience and mercy of you, my esteemed elders. Nobody wants to be in this situation.
“If my husband had not pulled out a gun that day and I were sure that he would not have killed us, I would have agreed to be beaten again.
“I wish I had died instead of dying and resurrecting every day, away from my child. I demand my acquittal.”
The defendant had previously claimed her husband had beaten her throughout their five-year marriage and during the two-year courtship that preceded it.
She had previously reported him to the authorities for his alleged violent behaviour. However, he was never sanctioned.
The court sentenced her to 20 years in prison, and it is unclear if she will appeal the sentence. The victim was buried in his hometown, Sivas, in central Turkey.
