Key suspect in political murder case earlier convicted of murder

It has recently been brought to light in Turkey that an official of the far right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) who is under custody on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of a former Grey Wolves leader had earlier been convicted of killing a high school student.

MHP official Ufuk Kokturk has been arrested on accusations of complicity in the murder of Sinan Ates - head of the MHP-affiliated Grey Wolves in 2019-20 - and he reportedly admitted to having transferred money to a Dogukan Cep who is accused of instigating the murder.

Journalist Alican Uludag exposed in his report in Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish on Thursday that Kokturk had been found guilty and sentenced to a prison term of 20 years for killing a high school student named Kahraman Kaya in 2013.

Kokturk was released in 2014 before the court issued its ruling.

Turkey's high appeals court subsequently overturned the local court's verdict and ruled to retrial on grounds of procedural errors.

The verdict was eventually upheld by Istanbul's 2nd Heavy Penal Court, but Kokturk was still appointed as a member of the executive committee of MHP's Istanbul branch, as the ruling has not yet been confirmed by an appeals court.

Two suspects in recent case defended by same lawyer before

Journalist Uludag further noted that Kokturk's lawyer Serdar Oktem, also a MHP member, had acted as the lawyer of Dogukan Cep who had faced court for involvement in the murder of a man named Hasan Ferit Gedik.

Cep had been sentenced to a prison term of 35 years in 2018 over charges including involvement in Gedik's murder, and was in the run for four years.