An Istanbul court has sentenced two defendants to 24 years in prison for "premeditated murder of a minor" in the case of Mattia Ahmet Minguzzi, the 14-year-old son of Italian chef Andrea Minguzzi and Turkish cellist Yasemin Akincilar, who died in February following a stabbing in the Turkish city.

According to local media, the convicts, identified as UB and BB, aged 15, received the maximum sentence. Minguzzi died on February 9 after spending approximately two weeks in intensive care after being stabbed by a 15-year-old while at a street market in the Kadikoy district, where he had gone with friends to buy skateboarding equipment, one of his passions.

Two other defendants in the case were acquitted, while the two convicted were the 15-year-old who stabbed Minguzzi and another 15-year-old who kicked the boy after he collapsed to the ground after being stabbed. The defendants were arrested on the day of the attack.

His father, Andrea Minguzzi, executive chef at Eataly in Istanbul, said his son didn't know his attackers, who had sought a conflict without cause . The entire incident was documented on video, where a young man stabbed Mattia five times, while another teenager kicked the 14-year-old after he fell to the ground.

The crime has sparked a huge outcry in Turkey, and many people flocked to the Kartal courthouse today, where the trial was held, to show support for the family of the murdered youth. The 14-year-old's parents have received numerous messages of support in recent months, including from politicians and directly from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They have also received death threats, while Matthias Ahmet's grave was vandalized in the weeks following his burial.

(Unioneonline)

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