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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Prominent Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who has been jailed in Turkey for a decade, received the family of a Kurdish student who died under mysterious circumstances. The unresolved case has gained nationwide support.
Demirtas, who has been held in a prison in Istanbul since 2016 over alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), recently invited the father of Rojin Kabais to visit him in prison. The meeting took place on Sunday.
Following the visit, Nizamettin Kabais, her father, told Rudaw's Rawin Sterk that Demirtas expressed his support for his daughter's case and asked the family to stay in contact with his lawyer to maintain communication.
"His morale was high, but his youthful appearance had changed a great deal. It hurt me to see him like this, and we hugged one another," the heartbroken father said.
The case of Rojin Kabais is one of Turkey's most high-profile unresolved suspicious death cases, involving a young Kurdish university student whose death has become a symbol of the country's debates over femicide and judicial negligence.
The 21-year-old, a first-year Child Development student at Van Yuzuncu Yil University, disappeared on September 27, 2024 after last being seen leaving her dormitory. Her body was found 18 days later on the shore of Lake Van, nearly 18 kilometers from where she disappeared.
The autopsy later found bruising on her neck and back, ruled the cause of death as asphyxiation, and identified unidentified male DNA on her body along with a woman's blood on her undershirt.
A delayed report revealed the male DNA came from her chest and vaginal area, raising suspicion of sexual assault, though forensic officials attributed it to possible postmortem or environmental transfer. Her family's lawyers dispute this, citing the ten-month delay, and have pointed to major failures: unexamined "broken" security footage, a soaked scarf left unpreserved at the scene, and no systematic collection of witness statements. They have filed criminal complaints against the forensic institute over alleged misconduct.
Turkey's main pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) introduced a motion in the Turkish parliament to investigate the case, but it was blocked by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
This sparked nationwide protests under slogans such as "Justice for Rojin," often linked to the unresolved cases of other Kurdish women - Gulistan Doku and Narin Guran.
In May 2026, Turkey's justice minister told the family that her phone had been sent to Spain for forensic decryption. No suspects have been detained, and public pressure for full transparency continues.
The family has said it has met with officials from most of the country's political parties, including the ruling AKP.
Ahmet Kabais, her uncle, accompanied his brother to Edirne prison to meet Demirtas. He told Rudaw that the jailed politician expressed his readiness to provide any support for the case.
"His smile has not changed but the jail has changed his appearance," he said, regarding Demirtas' appearance as his imprisonment nears its tenth year.
The uncle also said that Demirtas thanked Rudaw for its coverage of the case.
Demirtas, who served as co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) from 2014 to 2018, was jailed on October 4, 2016, alongside many other members of the pro-Kurdish party on terrorism-related charges. Most remain behind bars despite domestic and international pressure.
The HDP, sister party of the DEM Party, has faced closure threats by Ankara over its alleged ties with the PKK.
