A prosecutor shot his ex-wife during a court session in Istanbul on Tuesday, January 13, firing at her while she was presiding over a case as a judge.
The incident took place at the Istanbul Regional Court of Appeals, where the judge was struck in the leg. She was taken to hospital for treatment, and early reports indicated she was in stable condition.
Police quickly secured the courthouse and opened an investigation, with images showing officers surrounding the building shortly after the midday shooting.
The attack drew comparisons to a similar courtroom incident in Albania months earlier, where Judge Astrit Kalaja was shot while overseeing a property dispute. Kalaja later died from his injuries while being taken to hospital in Tirana, and two other people — a father and son involved in the case — were wounded in the shooting.
Following that incident, Albania’s general prosecutor Olsian Çela warned the attack “strikes at the very foundation of justice and the functioning of the legal system.” Kalaja had served on the bench for nearly three decades and joined the Tirana Court of Appeals in 2019.
