The Sulaymaniyah Criminal Court has released the main suspect in the murder of two sisters in Chamchamal district, south of Sulaymaniyah in a court session on Sunday, September 11th.
On September 9, 2020, Chamchamal police recovered the bodies of two sisters (Awara, 19, and Helen, 17), from a half-meter-deep pit near the cemetery of Braim Agha village between the district of Chamchamal - Shiwan subdistrict. This comes about a week after they disappeared. The court then issued an arrest warrant for their father and identified him as the main suspect.
"Today was the last day of the court hearing on the case and the judge acquitted the main accused and released their father," a lawyer in the Sulaymaniyah court anonymously told KirkukNow.
"The judge said that although the evidence is insufficient to accuse you of killing your daughters, but this is the court of humanity and we will entrust you to the court of God," the source added.
The judge said that although the evidence is insufficient to accuse you of killing your daughters, but this is the court of humanity and we will entrust you to the court of God
The main suspect, who is their father, surrendered to Chamchamal police on March 30, 2021, six months after the bodies of his daughters were found.
"The investigation continues with the father of the two sisters, but he has not confessed to his crime," a source in the Chamchamal district administration then told KirkukNow.
On the same day, the Sulaymaniyah police directorate said in a statement that the main suspect (F, H, S) has surrendered and confessed his crime before the investigating judge and is now detained by the judge and investigations continue.
Chamchamal, September 9, 2020: Burial ceremony for the two sisters (Awara and Helen). Soran Mohammed
The bodies of the two sisters who were shot dead as bullets were found on their bodies, were buried in a cemetery in Chamchamal district administration in the presence of human rights organizations.
A few days after their burial, KirkukNow spoke to a number of relatives of the two girls and a cousin of their father whom all confirmed the two sisters were very humble, obedient and very compatible with each other.
"The two girls were harmless, silent and lived in a broken family," a cousin of the main suspect said on the condition of anonymity.
The father of the two girls, who has now been released by a judge, has married two women and divorced them. Even the mother of the two girls did not attend the funeral.
“Police have opened an investigation... The medical report showed that the two sisters were tortured before being killed and then shot dead. It is unclear who the killer is, but their father has an arrest warrant,” Ramak Ramadhan, commissioner of Chmachaml said during the burial.
“The father as head of the family should be investigated,“ he insisted. "We, as brother, uncles and relatives of the two sisters, fulfilled our duty of their burial.”
