An Istanbul court has turned down an appeal for releasing two Turkish brothers jailed over charges of pushing an Armenian woman to suicide.

According to Haberturk, the brothers, Barish Okumush and Orhan Okumush, used naked photos to blackmail a 24-year-old Narine Mkrtchyan. They both pleaded non-guilty, demanding a release. But the court did not satisfy their claim.

Narine’s mother, Noune Mkrtchyan, also attended the hearing.

Narine, who had illegally migrated to Turkey in 2008, lived in Istanbul’s Kumapi district together with a brother and a step-father. She fell in love with Orhan, his neighbor, who promised to marry her and photographed her naked. Orhan’s brother later threatened the girl with showing the photos to her brother if she disagreed to cohabit with him. As the family resided in Turkey illegally, Narine could not turn to the police. She ended up in suicide on February 28, by drinking poison.

“I photographed Narine by her own desire, and those pictures were in her phone’s memory card. I told her that I couldn’t marry her because of what happened in the past. I didn’t give the photos to my brother and I have nothing to do with Narine’s death. It is already four months I am in jail, and have a mother who needs care. I call for being released,” Orhan said in court.

His brother said that he and Orhan used the same computer without any knowledge that it contained Narine’s nude photos.

An indictment issued by an Istanbul prosecutor threatens Orhan with 11 years in prison. He faces charges for infringing on an individual’s private life, resorting to blackmail and causing death.

As for Barish, he could face 2-5 years in prison.