Mother, relatives charged over 8-year-old girl's killing in Turkiye

FILE - A Turkish flag flies near the Bosporus strait prior to the Bosporus Cross-Continental Swimming Race in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, July 24, 2016. (AP / Lefteris Pitarakis)

DIYARBAKIR, Turkiye -

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A Turkish court on Friday jailed pending trial the mother and brother of a murdered eight-year-old girl whose body was found in a sack hidden under rocks in a case that horrified the nation and triggered protests since her disappearance three weeks ago.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said he would seek the most severe punishment for those responsible for the death of Narin Guran, whose body was found in a village near Diyarbakir, the largest city in southeast Turkiye.

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Prosecutors at a Diyarbakir court charged the girl's mother and brother of participating in the murder, while six people including an uncle and cousins were charged with destroying evidence. Another uncle was earlier charged with murder.

Political parties and women's groups have held protests in various cities across Turkiye to demand justice for Guran, whose murder triggered an outpouring of shock on social media, especially because of the number of relatives allegedly involved in her killing.

Guran went missing on Aug. 21 from her village, some 10 kilometres (6 miles) south of Diyarbakir. Her body was found in a sack hidden under rocks in a nearby stream on Sept 8.

It was not clear how she was killed, but media reports said the autopsy revealed she had lesions on her neck.

(Reporting by Daren Butler;Editing by Miral Fahmy)