DINK'S MURDERER RECALLED AT ISTANBUL DEMONSTRATION AGAINST RULING IN RAPE CASE
epress.am
11.07.2011
Demonstrators gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square on Sunday were
demanding a just ruling in the case of N.C., a 13-year-old girl
who was "cajoled into sexual intercourse with 26 individuals in
exchange for money". In their slogans demonstrators mentioned Ogun
Samast, the 17-year-old nationalist charged with the 2007 murder of
Armenian-Turkish journalist and editor Hrant Dink.
Demonstrators were shouting, "If Ogun Samast was a child, then what
is N.C.?"
Recall, Samast was tried by Istanbul's Heavy Juvenile Criminal
Court which sentenced him to nearly 23 years in prison, taking into
consideration the fact that he was a minor when he committed the crime.
Demonstrators on Sunday were demanding the court amend its earlier
verdict in the N.C. case. Recall, the 14th Criminal Chamber of the
Supreme Court of Appeals on Oct. 31 upheld a decision by the Mardin
1st High Criminal Court to give 26 suspects, tried for raping N.C,
a minor, in the southeastern province of Mardin, sentences ranging
from one to six years in a trial earlier this year. The local court
had justified its decision based on N.C.'s alleged "consent" during
sexual intercourse.
N.C. went to the Mardin Police Department in 2002 to file a criminal
complaint against the men. Some of the accused are civil servants,
soldiers, a village head and teachers, and they have claimed they
have been slandered and unjustly accused. N.C. is now 19.
Last week, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
Adana deputy Omer Celik harshly criticized the Supreme Court of Appeals
ruling on his Twitter feed, defining it as a "crime against humanity"
and asked: "What can the judiciary protect, if it is unable to protect
a 13-year-old innocent child?"
epress.am
11.07.2011
Demonstrators gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square on Sunday were
demanding a just ruling in the case of N.C., a 13-year-old girl
who was "cajoled into sexual intercourse with 26 individuals in
exchange for money". In their slogans demonstrators mentioned Ogun
Samast, the 17-year-old nationalist charged with the 2007 murder of
Armenian-Turkish journalist and editor Hrant Dink.
Demonstrators were shouting, "If Ogun Samast was a child, then what
is N.C.?"
Recall, Samast was tried by Istanbul's Heavy Juvenile Criminal
Court which sentenced him to nearly 23 years in prison, taking into
consideration the fact that he was a minor when he committed the crime.
Demonstrators on Sunday were demanding the court amend its earlier
verdict in the N.C. case. Recall, the 14th Criminal Chamber of the
Supreme Court of Appeals on Oct. 31 upheld a decision by the Mardin
1st High Criminal Court to give 26 suspects, tried for raping N.C,
a minor, in the southeastern province of Mardin, sentences ranging
from one to six years in a trial earlier this year. The local court
had justified its decision based on N.C.'s alleged "consent" during
sexual intercourse.
N.C. went to the Mardin Police Department in 2002 to file a criminal
complaint against the men. Some of the accused are civil servants,
soldiers, a village head and teachers, and they have claimed they
have been slandered and unjustly accused. N.C. is now 19.
Last week, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
Adana deputy Omer Celik harshly criticized the Supreme Court of Appeals
ruling on his Twitter feed, defining it as a "crime against humanity"
and asked: "What can the judiciary protect, if it is unable to protect
a 13-year-old innocent child?"