The murder suspect, Murat Nazaryan, 38, said on August 14 that his initial testimony was recorded under “psychological pressure.” During his first court appearance in June, he stated that he has nothing to say and that he did “not kill anybody.”
Maritsa Kucuk, 84, was stabbed seven times before her throat was slit at her home in Istanbul’s Samatya neighborhood on December 28, 2012. Within the same month, there were two other attacks on elderly Armenian women in nearby neighborhoods.
Nazaryan, who has a police record and allegedly suffers from psychological problems, was arrested on charges of “intended murder” on March 4, 2013. He was officially detained as a suspect when one of the elderly victims identified him. He was interrogated a second time after a sample of his blood was found to match the blood on an envelope in Maritsa Kucuk’s bag.
Police have claimed that Nazaryan attacked the women with the intention of robbing them.
The trial was postponed until November 14 to allow for a more thorough investigation.
