All defendants acquitted in Elmalı child abuse case

"Protect the child, not the perpetrator; justice for Elmalı" (Credit: Evrensel)

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In the trial over the sexual abuse of two children in Antalya's Elmalı, three defendants have been acquitted of the offenses charged.

Pronouncing its opinion as to the accusation ahead of today's hearing (November 15), the Prosecutor's Office previously requested that the mother (M.A.), step father (R.A.) and maternal uncle (S.C.G.) of the siblings be penalized and arrested for "sexual abuse" and "torment".

The three have been acquitted by the Elmalı High Criminal Court.

The defendants were present in the courtroom at the hearing today. The children's father G.G. and paternal grandmother G.S. as well as the lawyers of the parties, lawyers from the bar associations of other provinces and representatives of NGOs also attended the hearing.

Asked for her last words at the hearing, defendant M.A. reiterated her previous statement, saying that aspersions were cast on her and she could not speak. In response to the paternal grandmother's remarks "God willing, may you never be able to speak again", M.S. said, "You did all these. You made my children sick. These are all your aspersions and lies."

Father G.G. also said that "the children were both physically and mentally traumatized," adding, "I want the defendants to be penalized. Every day when they are free outside, other children are in danger."

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), the paternal grandmother G.S. said that "the 6-year-old child told about the abuse in all details and the children did not want to see their mother." She also requested that the defendants "be penalized in the severest way possible."

Defendants R.A. and S.C.G dismissed the charges.

The lawyers of the plaintiffs and the bar associations argued that the children were abused and demanded penalization.

Following the recess, the court board pronounced its ruling and ruled that mother M.A., step father R.A. and maternal uncle S.C.G. should be acquitted of "sexual abuse of children" and "torment."

What happened?

In 2020, paternal grandmother G.S. applied to the prosecutor's office in Balıkesir province, alleging that her two grandchildren had been subjected to sexual abuse. Paternal grandmother filed a criminal complaint against her ex-daughter-in-law M.A., her husband R.A. and the daughter-in-law's boyfriends. Launching an investigation upon this complaint, the prosecutor's office took the statements of the children.

Both in the statements that they gave and the pictures that they drew, the two children talked about the abuse that they had been subjected to. These pictures were then added to the investigation file.

At the third hearing held on January 6, 2021, the arrested mother and her arrested stepfather were released by the Elmalı Heavy Penal Court. (AÖ/SD)