Students hold protest over murder of their classmate

Students and parents in the north held a demonstration on Tuesday over the murder of 16-year-old Zehie Helin Reessur, saying the action was taken so “more Helins do not die.”

The 16-year-old was found dead last week at a construction site in Trikomo. She is suspected of having been bludgeoned to death by a 21-year-old suspect, now in custody.

On Tuesday, students gathered outside the vocational school in Famagusta where she had been a student holding signs saying ‘Do not let other Helins die,’ and ‘We will never forget you Helin,’ and ‘Don’t be silent, speak up.’

The family of the young girl also released a statement earlier in the day saying they would be taking legal action against media groups in the north that claimed the murder was a ‘crime of passion’.

“We, as Helin’s family, have bitterly seen that since the murder took place on January 25, that this child murder has been distorted by the media in a way that offends both Helin’s memory and us,” they said.

They added that information about the 16-year-old’s private life spread in the media in the north “as if to excuse the child’s murder.”

The statement concluded that if media refer to this crime as one of ‘passion’ then they will seek legal action.

On Friday, the 21-year-old Sefer Bugra Atlundag was remanded for a further seven days.

According to police, the victim was beaten in his car last Wednesday, where police said that she was hit five times with a hammer, and then dragged 100 metres to a construction site, where she was given two blows with an iron bar to the head, which proved to be fatal.