Woman handcuffed to chair died by suicide, Turkish prosecutor rules

A Turkish prosecutor has ruled that Ukrainian model Kristina Novytska, whose body was discovered handcuffed to a chair, had died by suicide, the daily Hürriyet reported on Sep. 7. Novytska's case was closed, joining dozens of other cases of violence against women that Turkish authorities have failed to prosecute.

Tuesday September 07 2021 12:36 pm

Duvar English

The case of Ukrainian model Kristina Novytska whose body was found handcuffed to a chair in her residence was closed after the prosecutor ruled that she died by suicide, the daily Hürriyet reported on Sep. 7.

The prosecutors started weighing the idea of suicide when no signs of forced entry or an altercation were found in Novytska's residence, even though her body was handcuffed to a chair and she was found with a bag over her head.

Novytska's mother gave a statement as part of the case about the model's death, saying that the woman had suffered from mental health problems for which she received treatment in Ukraine.

"She was using antidepressants. The pandemic had also taken a toll on her psychology. She had bought tickets to return to Ukraine a while back, but she missed the flight because she was sleeping," Novytska's mother said.

Novytska's boyfriend, identified only as Murat, said that the woman had told him before that she was struggling with things in her life.

However, suspicious deaths of women are all too common in Turkey, with the We Will Stop Femicides Platform reporting 21 women who died under suspicious conditions in Turkey in the month of August, while another 31 women were killed by men in femicides.