Court starts hearing 'child marriage in religious community' case

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The first hearing of the child abuse case related to the forced "marriage" of the 6-year old daughter of Yusuf Ziya G. who is the founder of the Hiranur Foundation affiliated with the İsmailağa religious sect, to 29-year-old Kadir İ., started to be held this morning (January 30) in İstanbul Anadolu 2nd Heavy Penal Court.

Lawyers, heads of bar associations, and the Union of Bar Associations of Türkiye (TBB) are participating in the hearing.

The lawyers and lawyer organizations called the court not to impose a broadcast ban on the case. 

Groups gathered in front of the courthouse

Before the hearing started at 10:00 a.m. many followers of the İsmailağa religious sect gathered in front of the courthouse. The police announced that nobody other than those to stand trial and the lawyers will be allowed to enter the courthouse.

6 yaşında "evlilik" adı altında istismara maruz bırakılan H.G.K'nin davasının ilk duruşması Anadolu Adliyesinde başladı

İsmail Ağa Cemaati adliye önünde dua edip tekbir getiriyor pic.twitter.com/JunTZv26l1

— Ruken Tuncel (@ruken_tuncel) January 30, 2023

Women's organizations also gathered in front of the courthouse and read out a statement.

"You should never walk alone" and "We will let you acquit child abuse" chanted the women.

The hearing started with objections

Suspect Yusuf Ziya G. is present in the hearing while Kadir İ. will be participating through SEGBİS (audiovisual information system) from the prison he is in.

The hearing was moved to a larger room since the room was small.

The chief judge told the court that the indictment would not be read out and that SEGBİS recording would not be made in the hearing.

TBB, bar associations and lawyers requested that the indictment should be read out and SEGBİS should be opened for a fair trial.
The court decided that SEGBİS will be open and the indictment will be read out after this objection.

The requests of the lawyers, bar associations, and TBB to intervene in the case were taken after the indictment was read out.

What happened?

The revelation of a woman's allegations that she had been forced to marry a 29-year-old man at the age of six rattled Türkiye in December 2022, once again bringing attention to child abuse in the country's religious communities. 

The woman, identified with the initials H.K.G., is the daughter of Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, a prominent figure in the İsmailağa sect, a politically influential Islamic community.

An investigation was opened in November 2020, after H.K.G. filed a complaint.

Timur Soykan, a columnist for the daily BirGün, first revealed the investigation in an article on December 3, 2022. The article included parts of the woman's statement to the prosecutors, and the transcript of her conversations with Kadir İ., the man whom she married, which she had secretly recorded.

According to the transcript, the man admits to having intercourse with H.K.G. when she was a minor but denies it was rape.

In another article on December 7, Soykan revealed photographs of H.K.G. in a wedding dress and together with Kadir İ.

H.K.G. gave two more statements to the prosecutors, with the latest one in June. Accordingly, the prosecutors completed the investigation last week and a case was filed.

In June, H.K.G. told the prosecutors that she had secretly bought a mobile phone and told what she had been through to a woman she had met over the Wattpad app. She had advised her to seek help from the state, which she did.

Releasing a video following the initial reports, H.K.G.'s brother and two sisters denied her allegations that she had been forced to marry İ.K. at the age of six. She had married him when she was 18, they claimed.

According to the indictment in a former investigation, H.K.G. went to the hospital in 2012, when she was 16, due to irregular periods.

Because she was a minor and there was a suspicion of pregnancy, doctors informed the police about the situation. The family claimed that she was older.

After an investigation was opened, the prosecutor ordered H.K.G.'s bone age to be determined. H.K.G. went to the Haydarpaşa Numune Hospital with Mehmet Emin M., a member of the İsmailağa sect.

However, instead of H.K.G., samples were taken from a woman aged 21 and the investigation was dropped.

After H.K.G.'s complaint in 2020, an investigation for "forgery of official documents" was launched but it was dropped as well, due to the statute of limitations.

After public outrage, the investigation dragging on for two years progressed, and H.K.G.'s father and ex-husband, both prominent figures in the politically influential religious sect, were arrested.

The first hearing of the case, which was scheduled for May, was brought forward to be held on January 30. 

The Forensic Medicine Institute identified that the mental health of H.K.G. worsened due to the abuse.

The Ministry of Family and Social Services, which had requested to intervene in the case in December, requested that the case hearings should be held closed and a broadcast ban should be imposed on the case. (RT/AÖ/PE/VK)