Şaban Vatan, the father of a girl whose 2018 death remains unresolved, has been sent to prison in Turkey after the country’s top appeals court upheld his conviction on charges of insult and unlawfully obtaining personal data concerning a former minister from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Diken news website reported.
The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the sentence issued by a lower court, which found Vatan guilty of “insulting a public official” and “illegally acquiring and disseminating personal information.” The charges stem from a 2020 complaint filed by Nurettin Canikli, a former defense minister and senior member of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP.
Vatan was sentenced to one year, eight months in prison for the data-related offense and fined 8,840 Turkish lira (about $220) on the insult charges. With the appeals process exhausted, he surrendered himself to the Espiye Open Prison in Giresun on Monday morning, where he is expected to serve the sentence under less stringent conditions than in a standard prison, including potential weekend leave and a work permit.
A father’s years-long pursuit of justice
Vatan became a national figure after the suspicious death of his 11-year-old daughter, Rabia Naz, who was found severely injured outside her home in the Black Sea town of Eynesil, Giresun province, in 2018 and died in the hospital shortly thereafter. Officials ruled the death a suicide, but Vatan has long insisted that she was struck by a car belonging to a relative of a politically connected local mayor and that the evidence was covered up.
Vatan specifically alleged that a black Fiat Doblo was involved in the incident and was driven by the nephew of then-Eynesil mayor Coşkun Somuncuoğlu. He said authorities attempted to cover up the hit-and-run due to the perpetrator’s political ties. Vatan further alleged that Canikli had ordered the coverup because he was close to the Somuncuoğlu family. Canikli filed a criminal complaint against Vatan after he made these allegations.
Vatan has publicly accused local authorities of interfering in the investigation, and his campaign for justice has drawn both public sympathy and intense legal pressure.
The criminal case was initiated after Vatan posted accusations and documents online, naming officials he believed were involved in the alleged coverup. The court ruled that in doing so, he had violated laws on personal data privacy and insulted Canikli.
Before turning himself in on Monday, Vatan posted a video on X in which he talked about his ordeal while the alleged killers of his daughter live freely.
Ben içerden çıkana kadar
Lütfen Rabia Nazımızın
Adalet Sesi Olun. #RabiaNazİçinAdalet https://t.co/ZYlfkocTAl— ⚖️ŞabaN VataN-RabiaNaz VataN (@VatanSaban) July 14, 2025
“Since the day we lost our Rabia Naz, the killers haven’t even been questioned, while I have been summoned repeatedly to give statements in cases brought against us. They call this a state of law? Fine, I’ll go serve my sentence. But those who protect the killers, those complicit in the coverup, will one day experience the same suffering they inflicted. This injustice will eventually confront them.”
In a separate case Vatan was prosecuted in 2023 for allegedly insulting President Erdoğan, but was acquitted in May 2024. He described the acquittal as a “moral victory for parents seeking justice.”
In the meantime Vatan was sent to a clinic for an evaluation of his mental health and was briefly detained due to a complaint from the key witness in the case, who changed his testimony five times during the prolonged investigation.
The case of Rabia Naz prompted a 2019 parliamentary inquiry into suspicious child deaths, but no charges have ever been filed in connection with her death. The official determination that she took her own life remains unchanged.
Vatan’s imprisonment is seen as emblematic of the broader climate of repression in Turkey, where citizens who criticize the government or demand accountability often face legal consequences.