"Don't remain silent against abuse"
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bianet editor Evrim Kepenek has testified after a complaint against her by Refik Y., who was arrested for abusing his six-year-old child and was later released.
Kepenek had written two reports on the case, one about his arrest and one about his release. Refik Y. accused Kepenek of violation of privacy.
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Kepenek and her attorney Şefik Çorbacıoğlu went today (August 9) to Şehit Halis Karoğlu Police Station in Ardeşen, Rize to testify.
In her statement, Kepenek noted that she is a "journalist" and reported on the case file and forensic medicine reports without comment and criticism.
The reports subject to the complaint were not intended to insult Refik Y., she told the police.
Noting that the suspect's full name was not written in the reports, she said, "The violation of the person's private life is out of the question. The content of the news was the conveyance of concrete facts."
"We stand behind our report"
Speaking after her testimony, Kepenek said, "We didn't write his surname because the process of trial is underway. There is the presumption of innocence. However, reports taken from both the forensic medicine [institution] and private psychologists stated that the father abused the child. So, this is how we reported it. We didn't make comments or criticism. We only conveyed what was written in the reports and presented the court decision."
The expression "the father who abused his child" was quoted from the mentioned reports and was put in quotation marks in the news headline, Kepenek added.
Also, a request was made for the removal of the reports in question and bianet was called by phone and asked to remove them, according to Kepenek. "But we act in accordance with official reports. We stand behind our report. We'll follow the process and see what happens. We'll continue to do reporting."
What happened?Living in Selçuk, İzmir, Refik Y. and Nazlı U. decided to have a divorce. As there is no family court in Selçuk, the case was referred to the penal court of first instance. While the proceedings of divorce were still ongoing, a lawsuit was filed for the custody of 6-year-old Y.B. and M.M. At the hearing on March 24, 2021, the attorneys of Nazlı U. submitted expert reports and psychologist's opinions to the court, documenting that the father had abused Y.B. However, taking only the Social Examination Report (SİR) prepared by a single psychologist, the court board gave the temporary custody of the child to the father. According to this decision, the mother would be allowed to meet her children at certain hours every Saturday. The attorneys of Nazlı U. appealed against this decision. In their petition, they listed the indications of child abuse one by one. Attorneys Özgür Baykal and Fırat Güneş demanded that the temporary custody of the child be taken away from the father by considering the best interest of the child and that their objection to the SİR report be accepted. The attorneys also requested that a new SİR report be issued after the child was examined by a board of experts, including a child psychiatrist, and that the specialist psychologists be heard at court. However, the court rejected all of these requests. With the report of the Forensic Medicine Institution affiliated with the Justice Ministry, it has been confirmed that the child was abused by the father. Following the report documenting the finding of sexual abuse, father Refik Y. was arrested and sent to prison. |
(HA/VK)
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