Murder of Şule Çet

Şule Çet was a 23-year-old student studying fashion design at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey. On the night of 24 May 2018, she was invited to dinner by her boss, Çağatay Aksu, and his friend, Berk Akand. After dinner the three went to an office on the 20th floor of a building in Ankara, where they drank alcohol. After midnight, Çet sent text messages to her roommate indicating that the situation was not what she had expected and that Aksu would not let go of her.

The last message from Çet's phone was sent at 3:03 a.m. At approximately 4:00 a.m., surveillance camera footage recorded Berk Akand appearing visibly distressed as he spoke to the building's security personnel. During the night, Akand also sent a message to a friend from university expressing regret over what had happened. Çet was thrown from the 20th-floor window. The two men initially claimed she had committed suicide, but a forensic medical examination later indicated she had been raped and that a fight had preceded her death; injuries to her throat were cited as evidence she had been strangled. Investigators also noted the absence of her fingerprints on the windows and that the window could only be opened to a width of 30 centimeters. After her death, both men attempted to flee by calling an airline more than ten times, but surveillance footage showed they were too intoxicated to make the flight.

Following interrogation, the two men were initially released. Aksu and Akand were arrested on 14 July 2018, after a public campaign demanding their detention. The first court hearing took place on 6 February 2019. Both defendants pleaded not guilty; Aksu maintained they had only been drinking and that he was trying to help Çet, who he said was in financial difficulty. The two men gave contradictory accounts regarding the timing of when glasses were washed. Defense lawyers argued that the sexual contact was consensual, a position the court's medical department reportedly supported, prompting public criticism. The defense also complained about pressure from Çet's family for convictions.

In December 2019, Çağatay Aksu was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing, plus an additional 12.5 years for deprivation of liberty and sexual assault. Berk Akand was sentenced to 18 years and 9 months for his role in assisting the crime. The Çet family's lawyer said he would appeal, disputing the court's finding that Aksu's courtroom conduct merited a standard rather than aggravated life sentence. In June 2020, an Ankara appeals court upheld both verdicts, though the family's attorneys indicated they would continue to contest the mitigation of Aksu's sentence.

The case drew sustained public attention over roughly 19 months, accompanied by a social media campaign under the hashtag #SuleCetIcinAdalet ("Justice for Sule Cet"). Women's organizations in Turkey welcomed the sentences, as did the Çet family's lawyers and Ankara's mayor, Mansur Yavaş.