Eighteen-year-old Münevver Karabulut’s body was found in a trash bag in a dumpster, with her severed head in a guitar case atop her corpse, in March 2009. It did not take long for Garipoğlu, her boyfriend and the last person known to have been in contact with the 18-year-old, to become the prime suspect in the ensuing investigation. After evading authorities for 197 days, Garipoğlu surrendered and was imprisoned pending trial.Two separate indictments were prepared against the suspects in the murder. The Bakırköy 2nd Juvenile High Criminal Court ruled at a Feb. 11 hearing to merge the two indictments due to the legal and physical connections between the cases. The second indictment seeks an aggravated life sentence for Garipoğlu’s father on charges of taking part in a premeditated murder and also seeks prison terms of six months to five years for Cem’s uncle Hayyam Garipoğlu, Habib Kurt, Mehmet Karakayalı and Ahmet Batur for helping the suspect evade capture. Also included in the indictment is Cem’s mother, Tülay Makbule Garipoğlu, for allegedly destroying, obscuring and tampering with evidence.
Pursuant to the court ruling, the case was heard yesterday at the Bakırköy 4th High Criminal Court. Batur, Karayakalı and Kurt were present at the trial, as were Karabulut’s parents.
The senior Garipoğlu dismissed the allegations of his involvement, saying Cem acted alone in killing Karabulut, and continued: “May God give patience to the Karabulut family. Whatever they say is right. I wish my son did not do it. We cannot bring the past back. I’ve been in prison for 10 months. The media has lynched the Garipoğlu family for months. We were convicted every day in newspaper headlines. I am 50, and I have no criminal past. I had not even been in a police station. I am against violence. I have never seen Münevver in my life. I don’t know her. They say I left home with a bag on the day of murder. I have been using that bag with wheels for years. I use it since I have a backache. … I demand my release.”
Cem said he still stood by the testimony he gave in the previous hearing on Feb. 11.
Speaking to reporters during a break in the hearing, Karabulut family lawyer Altan Altınyurt said the elder Garipoğlu was trying to cover up the people who hid Cem.
