The main suspect in the alleged murder of Jeannah Dinabongho Ibouanga, a 17-year-old Gabonese student, in northwestern Turkey has been acquitted of all charges, the Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish service reported.
In the seventh and final court hearing on Tuesday, the suspect, Dursun Acar, was acquitted of charges of “attempted sexual assault” and “voluntary manslaughter.”
The court’s ruling sparked outrage among women’s rights advocates, who condemned it as yet another instance of femicide going unpunished.
Ibouanga’s body was found in the Filyos River, in Karabük province, on March 26, 2023. Security camera footage showed Ibouanga exiting Acar’s vehicle on the main road and running barefoot down the street, but many of the circumstances remain unclear.
Prosecutors indicted Acar and sought an aggravated life sentence for murder and another 15 years in prison on charges of sexual abuse.
Acar pled not guilty. He told the court that Ibouanga approached his car and asked to be taken to a hospital because she had been beaten up by some woman. He said there was blood on her face and hands and that she got out of the car at a traffic light. Acar also said he had afterward called a local police chief who was a friend of a relative.
Lawyers representing the victim’s family said there were major contradictions in the suspect’s statements and that they had reason to believe that the young woman wanted to leave the vehicle due to something Acar did. They added that theneeded thorough investigation of the crime scene did not take place.
Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), criticized the investigation of the murder, stating that it was inadequate and that the circumstances surrounding the young woman’s death remained unclear. He said he would continue to demand justice for Ibouanga.
https://twitter.com/gergerliogluof/status/1869418597510181048
Women’s rights groups in Karabük took to the streets to protest the ruling. Ibouanga’s lawyer Gülyeter Aktepe joined the protest and made a statement saying the law protected men instead of victims of gender based violence and femicide. “We do not accept this ruling,” she said. “We want real justice, not a justice system that protects men.”
