Court ruling ignores violence against child worker

"Children have rights" - Photo: Şehlem Kaçar / csgorselarsiv.org

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The court has pronounced its ruling in the trial over an incident where a child worker was deforced and battered by his employers in Afyon on the grounds that he had asked for his unpaid daily wage of 200 lira.

At the final hearing held in the Afyon Courthouse yesterday (September 16), the court board sentenced the employers who had inflicted violence on the child to 1 year, 18 months and 3 years in prison on charge of "injury with a weapon" and the 16-year-old child who had been subjected to violence for hours to 3 years, 9 months in prison on charge of "theft for usage." As Ş.C.K. is a child, the court has reduced the sentence to 2 years, 1 month.

Sharing a message on its Twitter account, the Child Rights Center has criticized the ruling, saying that "this ruling has once again shown that the judicial system does not focus on children and their rights."

Announcing that it will exercise its right to appeal against this ruling, the Child Rights Center has underlined that its demands for justice for the 16-year-old child worker Ş.C.K. will continue.

What happened?

The child working as an apprentice at a fish shop in Güvenevler Neighborhood in Afyon was battered by shop owner Akif A. (34) and employee Ali S. (29). He asked for help from the security guards of a nearby shopping mall and was taken to a hospital.

After he was discharged from the hospital, he went to the Children's Branch of the Provincial Security Directorate and filed a criminal complaint. The two suspects were taken into custody afterwards. Akif A. was arrested while Ali S. was released on probation.

In the indictment issued about the incident, the prosecutor's office has demanded that Akif A. and Ali S. stand trial on charge of "deprivation of liberty with force, threat or deception". Upon the complaint of suspect Akif A., the indictment has also demanded that the child be penalized on charge of "burglary at night by opening with an unjustly held key."

The child and his family also filed a criminal complaint about the incident. Elif Tuğba Şahin, the attorney of the family, said that the child had been traumatized and shared the following information:

"He is also in a very bad psychological state. There are allegations of theft against him; it is not the case, the child is the one who has money owed. They refer to allegations of theft and make such defenses to evade the charges, they are trying to make accusations of culpability against the client."

While defendant Akif A. was released on probation, defendant Ali S.'s judicial control measures have been lifted. (KÖ/SD)