Suspect on Armenian woman’s murder case in Istanbul subjected to sexual abuse in prison

YEREVAN, JULY 9, ARMENPRESS. Murad Nazaryan who is suspected of murdering Armenian elderly womanMaritsa Küçükin Istanbul stated during the consecutive court session that he was subjected to violence in prison. As Armenpress reports, the Turkish “Demokrathaber.net” agency informed the aforementioned. Nazaryan’s lawyer Jefer Gül said that the crime was committed by an organized gang and the real culprits are free. He mentioned that his client was subjected to threats and even sexual abuse a few times. That is the reason they are demanding to set Nazaryan free. The suspect who has already spent 28 months in prison said that the other member of his jail cell threatened him.

“I have been subjected to sexual abuse a few times. The factor that I am Armenian also plays a role here. I have informed the jail’s procurator's office, written an appeal but it has not been processed,” Nazaryan said. The court session has been postponed till September 21, 2015.

The suspect stated at the Court that he did not kill anybody. Armenpress reports that Agos Periodical informed about it. The trial was attended by the relatives of the killed and lawyers.

“I did not kill anybody. I was kept at the forensic medical institution under supervision”, - said Nazaryan. The daughter of the killed Maritsa Küçük also made some inquiries: “Murat says that he is being threatened. Who threatens him and why? Whom he defends and what did they want from my mother”.

Eren Keskin, the lawyer of the family of the killed Armenian woman Maritsa Küçük, had earlier demanded from the Court to present her the investigation cases of other victims - Turfanda Aşık and Sultan Akyar. The Court decided to wait for the report by the forensic medical institution and prolong the former decision to keep Nazaryan under detention and dated the legal session on March 12.

Earlier Keskin stated that the crime has undoubtedly been carried out by several people and on the hatred ground. “In this geographical area, where the Armenian Genocide occurred, certainly, the murder of the Armenian woman emerges doubts that the crime was carried out on the grounds of hatred”, noted the lawyer. Eren Keskin stated that neither the Prosecutor, nor the Police and the State exert efforts for revealing details of the crime. “The legal report on the Mavi Marmara ship case was prepared and published in 15 days. And why was the report concerning this case prepared in several months and without the expert conclusion? Did they want to conceal the crime”, noted Eren Keskin.

Murat Nazaryan, accused of attacking and killing Armenian women in Istanbul, announced that the murder was carried out by three unknown men. During the court hearing Nazaryan stated that those men threatened him that if he would not beat the women, they will injure his relatives. Earlier Murat Nazaryan told his lawyer Eren Keskin that he is afraid of talking, as those men are quite strong and they could kill him and his family.

Earlier Murat Nazaryan told in the court that the three armed men took him to Maritsa Küçük’s house and began stabbing her. “When they began stabbing her, I fled away. Before that they had cut my finger and put the blood on some document on the table. If I see those men or their photos, I will recognize them”, Nazaryan said.

One of the women, 87-year-old Turfanda Aşık, lost an eye, while the other woman was robbed and severely injured. On December 28, 2012, Maritsa Küçük was stabbed seven times before her throat was slit at her home in Samatya. Two other attacks were carried out in the same month against elderly Armenian women in the Samatya and Bakırköy districts as well. Most recently, 83-year-old Sultan Akyar was attacked in Samatya, after which she underwent eye surgery. The blood on an envelope found in Maritsa Küçük’s bag belongs to Murat Nazaryan, adding that the women who survived the attacks in Samatya identified him as the assailant. However, the evidence found in the attack against Vehbiye Ö., 80, who was severely wounded in the Şişli district of Istanbul, did not match with the suspect Murat Nazaryan. Police are continuing their investigation to find the Şişli suspect. After the suspect’s blood samples matched the blood found in Maritsa Küçük’s bag, he was questioned again. In his second questioning, he gave a detailed testimony about the incidents. Murat Nazaryan, detained twice before for theft, previously worked at tea houses as a cleaner but had been unemployed for some time. The Istanbul police arrested Murat Nazaryan on March 4.