Duygu Bölükbaş trial appeal decision: Acquittal overturned, camera records under scrutiny

The trial regarding the death of 33-year-old marketing manager Duygu Bölükbaş, who lost her life in the bathroom of her home in 2022 in Bornova, İzmir, has begun to be heard from scratch after the appellate court overturned the local court's acquittal decision. The case, initially recorded as "suicide" but opened on suspicion of "intentional homicide" due to the family's persistent pursuit and contradictions in forensic reports, has seen the retrial process initiated against defendant Emre T. In the first hearing held at the İzmir 3rd Heavy Penal Court, the accusations against the defendant, whose judicial control measure continues, and the status of the evidence were deliberated. The most critical development changing the course of the case was the İzmir 4th Penal Chamber overturning the decision due to "major gaps" in the file, rejecting the local court's reasoning of "no definitive evidence".

One of the most important evidentiary points debated since the day of the incident has been the DNA traces belonging to defendant Emre T. found on the victim's nails and t-shirt, and the statements of the site security guards that they had seen the defendant with a knife in his hand previously. The prosecutor demanded an aggravated life sentence, stating that it was physically and medically impossible for the young woman to hang herself with a towel sheet, but the court of first instance did not find this request sufficient and acquitted the defendant. The appeal court's decision to overturn the ruling characterized the failure to obtain an opinion from the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute on whether the formation of a neck fracture was physically possible and the failure to clarify the time differences in camera recordings as a major omission, leading to the case being reconsidered. While the family argues that their daughter was not of a personality to commit suicide and was murdered, demanding the heaviest penalty, the defendant denies the accusations and seeks acquittal.

In the hearing held, the court panel made a critical intermediate decision focusing on the camera recordings, which are the darkest point requiring illumination in the case. The inability to clarify the time interval between the defendant entering the elevator from the parking lot and returning to the apartment in the apartment views, where there were missing or no time records, stood out as one of the main bases of the overturning decision. In this context, the court decided to send an official letter directly to the camera company to reach the originals of possible missing or missing images from the day of the incident, expanding the evidence collection process. Additionally, a new forensic examination process was initiated to examine whether a chronological match could be established between the phone calls and BTK records on the day of the incident and the camera images.

Upon the objections of the intervening family lawyers, the findings of the upper court in the examined file created quite serious technical and legal question marks. In particular, the fact that the neck bone fractures in the autopsy report were not explained as to how they could occur medically in such a suicide scenario, in the event of a person dying by hanging themselves with a towel sheet in the bathroom, was evaluated as a factor strengthening the "intentional homicide" claim. Finding visual records clearly showing the defendant's movements in the house that evening and placing phone signals on a chronological timeline were among the other technical details that would determine the outcome of the case. The decisions taken by the court to remedy these deficiencies started a new legal struggle between the parties.

In the next stage of the process, the data to come from the camera company and the forensic medicine examinations to be completed will determine the course of the case. The hearing was adjourned to November 26 for the elimination of deficiencies, and the court accepted the request for the continuation of the ban on defendant Emre T. leaving the city. While both the family side and the prosecution expect digital footprints and forensic data to fill these "major gaps" and the defendant to receive the heaviest penalty, the defendant is prepared to continue his defense maintaining his innocence. This case, which created a wide repercussion in İzmir, brings the effort to reach justice and the importance of technological possibilities in the analysis of evidence to the agenda once again.