MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Mardin - In 2018, a man named Ferhat Karahan sexually abused a child in the Nusaybin district of Mardin province. The child, who was sexually abused and battered, was also threatened by Ferhat Karahan saying, “I will make your life miserable”. After the incident, the child was taken to a hospital and received a medical report proving that the child had been battered. The indictment prepared as part of the investigation launched after the complaint, demanded the perpetrator be punished for “sexually abusing a child" and "deprivation of liberty".

He was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison

The perpetrator was released from prison after being held in prison for five months. He was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for “sexually abusing a child” and to five years in prison for “deprivation of liberty” by the Mardin 1st High Criminal Court. 

He has been acquitted

The lawyers of the perpetrator applied to the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals demanding the reviewing verdict. The Supreme Court sent the file back to local court saying “there are contradictory statements”. After the retrial, the local court acquitted Ferhat Karahan on the grounds that "sufficient and convincing concrete evidence could not be found.”

The lawyers of the child objected to the court decision and applied to higher court for the review of the verdict.

In 2021, the Turkish Parliament’s Justice Committee approved a judicial reform package which stipulates that instead of taking victim testimony, concrete evidence is required in child abuse cases, making it more difficult for abusers to be prosecuted. According to the regulation, witness testimony or other forms of concrete evidence such as DNA samples is necessary for a conviction. After the approval of the judicial reform package, women’s organizations and women’s right activists criticized the regulation saying that the reform package would pave the way for injustice and that they would not remain silent to child abuse.