Court Overlooks Sexual Assault, Sentences Yıldırım to Lifetime Imprisonment

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Nevin Yıldırım has been sentenced to lifetime imprisonment on charge of “willful murder” without any reduction in penalty. Her statements concerning sexual assault haven’t been taken into consideration by the court.

One of Yıldırım’s lawyers, Deniz Bayram has said, “We’ve advocated that if there is a crime in this file, it is the crime of sexual assault and the client acted on self-defense”.

Bayram said that Yıldırım, who completed middle-school and high-school in prison, is now studying in prison for university entrance exam to be held in June, and added “In spite of all injustices outside, she is holding on to the life inside”.

“Even expertise of Medical Forensics and psychiatry wasn’t consulted”

Speaking to bianet, lawyer Bayram said that even expertise of Medical Forensics and psychiatry wasn’t consulted with respect to Nevin Yıldırım’s statements about sexual assault, Yıldırım noted that Yıldırım’s smiling in sorrow when she heard the gossips about her in the courtroom was used against her:

“Not implementing good conduct abatement, which is granted to men, who torture women, for ‘behaving themselves’, to Nevin Yıldırım is an indicator of prejudices against her. When Nevin heard witnesses’ gossips against her testimony of sexual assault, she had smiled in sorrow in the courtroom. It has been used against her.

“During the judicial process of five years, there was no material evidence but just rumors. Contradictions in witness statements weren’t resolved. Most importantly, expertise of Forensic Medicine and psychiatry wasn’t consulted”.

Bayram added that they will appeal to the higher court, and to the European Court of Human Rights if domestic remedies is exhausted.

Nevin Yıldırım is held in Antalya Type L Prison.

What happened?

Nevin Yıldırım, the mother of two living in Koruyaka village in Isparta, was raped at gunpoint by 35-year old N.G., also father of two, on August 29, 2012.

Following the rape, Yıldırım killed N.G. who raped her, put his head in a sack and threw the sack to the village square saying "here is the head of the one who stained my honour".

Yıldırım also got pregnant after the rape and was forced to give birth to the baby without her consent on November 7, 2012.

She faced aggravated life imprisonment for "planned willful murder with atrocious feelings".

A forensic medicine report confirming that Yıldırım's mental health was intact, was submitted to the court in November 2014.
On March 2015, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. No abatement was imposed on her sentence.

The appeal hearing was held on September 14 before the Supreme Court of Appeal 1st Penal Chamber. Yıldırım was defended by 25 woman attorneys.