Acquitted of child abuse, father files a lawsuit against child's lawyer

Click to read the article in Turkish

Charged with "slander and insult", Lawyer Müjde Tozbey-Erden, the Chair of the Children and Women First Association, stood trial at the Konya 9th Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday (March 23).

Put on trial in relation to a child abuse case in Konya province upon the criminal complaint of the father, lawyer Tozbey-Erden attended the hearing with 11 fellow lawyers while the man who filed the criminal complaint against the lawyer was also present in the courtroom.

Making defense first at the hearing, Tozbey-Erden noted that "when the social media accounts of the association are observed, it can be seen that the pictures of killed women and information about their cases are shared on the accounts, but there is not a single piece of information about child abuse cases so that children will not get hurt and so that they can be protected".

Recalling that the mother of the child in Konya called her and told her that her spouse was arrested and they needed a lawyer, Tozbey-Erden indicated that they asked for the documents of the file and appointed a lawyer to the family afterwards. "The mother was so aggrieved that she only applied to us for legal assistance. In fact, they were very poor", she added.

Noting that she met the girl and her mother nearly a month later in Konya, lawyer Tozbey-Erden said, "When I listened to the girl, I understood that abuse indeed happened. After working in this field for over 10 years and meeting dozens of children... Two separate reports documenting that the girl was traumatized by the sexual abuse confirmed this opinion of mine".

'Father acquitted despite the reports'

According to the lawyer, after some time, the mother called her, saying that she was threatened, the family was pressuring her, her door was kicked and they were afraid. She said these remarks were made many times and they had a protection order taken for the mother and child:

"But the threats continued. After some time, the father started to stand trial without being arrested. We lodged an appeal and said that the threats continued. We said that it would affect the family's complaint, but we couldn't convince the court board. And it indeed happened'.

Lawyer Müjde Tozbey-Erden stated that the girl called from the number of her father and told her that "her father would not come in her bed any longer" and the mother told her, "My spouse promised us, I don't have the strength to bear any longer, he will not do it again".

The lawyer said, "And within the same week, we were expelled from the case and the father was acquitted at the first hearing".

Lawyer Tozbey-Erden asked, "Who is to blame here? The justice system which acquitted the abusive father despite the reports, the mother and her daughter who were isolated or us for calling the father abusive?"

Referring to the TV program, the subject matter of the case, she said that "all she had stated during the program was that 'there was an abusive father in Konya and he was unfortunately acquitted'."

"I was talking about my own case, I was giving information about the result of the case. We could not understand how it was understood that it was the plaintiff. We didn't utter his name," she added.

Court accepted the man's request

Taking the floor at the hearing afterwards, the male plaintiff mentioned that he had voice records. The court board responded that "the subject was not the voice records, but the allegation of insult on TV".

In response to this, the plaintiff requested time to read the statements of defense and to make his statement. The court has given time. The court board has also ruled that the association's request for a permission for investigation to be received from the Justice Ministry "shall be separately considered". The next hearing will be held on June 1. (EMK/SD)