Şaban Vatan, the father of Rabia Naz Vatan, whose suspicious death in 2018 remains unsolved, was released from prison on Thursday after 38 days of confinement, Turkish media reported.
Vatan turned himself in to authorities on July 14, after Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a prison sentence of one year, eight months for sharing the personal data of Nurettin Canikli, a former minister from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Vatan shared news of his release on X, vowing to continue his struggle to shed light on the truth about his daughter’s death, although no on-the-record information exists explaining the reason for his early release.
Supporters celebrated the announcement across social media platforms.
On April 12, 2018 Rabia Naz was found severely injured, lying on her back in front of her family’s apartment in Eynesil, Giresun province, shortly after returning home from school.
Despite being taken to the hospital, she could not be saved. The coroner initially ruled her death a suicide, claiming she had jumped from a height. However, her father rejected the suicide claim and argued that she was hit by a car. He claimed that his dying daughter was dragged from the scene of the accident to the family’s house with the evidence scraped off her clothes and the scene staged to appear like a suicide.
Vatan also said he had been told by locals that a black Fiat Doblo van was seen leaving the area around the time of his daughter’s death. Based on these eyewitnesses and his own investigation, he believed that the van was involved in the incident and that it was driven by the nephew of then-Eynesil mayor Coşkun Somuncuoğlu. He accused the authorities of covering up the incident due to the driver’s political ties. Vatan further alleged that Canikli — a senior figure in the ruling AKP — had ordered the cover-up because of his close ties to the Somuncuoğlu family.
Canikli later filed a criminal complaint against Vatan on charges of “insult” and “obtaining and disseminating personal data” in 2019. He was fined for the offense of insult and sentenced to one year, eight months in prison for the offense of “obtaining and disseminating personal data.”
