The court made a controversial decision in the case of a 13-year-old girl who was married to an imam in Turkey, where she came to flee from the civil war in Syria and became pregnant. His wife and mother, who were tried for ‘qualified sexual abuse of the child’, were acquitted on the grounds that they did not know the law. Lawyers reacted to the decision by saying, “His ignorance of the law cannot be considered an excuse.” The details of the news are as follows:
DOCTOR REPORTED
According to the case file, about 4 years ago, a girl named Fatma C. fled the Syrian civil war and started living in Ankara with her family. Fatma C., 13, was married to her relative Abdulkerim J. (26) in an imam marriage in 2017. The little girl became pregnant from this marriage. Alemdağ Migrant Health Education Center filed a criminal complaint after detecting the pregnancy of the underage girl. Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against Abdulkerim J. and the child’s mother, Emani B.
‘QUALIFIED ABUSE’
As a result of the investigation, the Public Prosecutor Emine Avcıoğlu filed a lawsuit against Abdulkerim J. for the crimes of “Qualified Sexual Abuse of the Child, Deprivation of Freedom of the Person”, and the mother Emani B. for the crimes of “qualified sexual abuse of the child, participation in the crimes of deprivation of liberty”. In the indictment, noting that Fatma C. did not complain about her husband, Abdulkerim J. declared that they had sexual intercourse with the consent and will of the victim, “Suspect Abdulkerim repeatedly committed sexual abuse of the child against the victim under the age of 15 and deprived the child of his freedom for sexual purposes. It has been understood that he committed the crimes of deprivation and that the suspect, the mother of the victim, also participated in these crimes.
‘WE DID NOT KNOW THE LAW’
The first hearing of the case was held on July 16 at the Ankara 6th High Criminal Court. In his defense, the accused Abdulerim J. said, “As a Syrian citizen, I am not in a position to know the penal legislation in Turkey. As a Syrian person, I married a Syrian woman according to the order in Syria,” he said. The accused mother, Emani B., also said: “I allowed my daughter to get married so that she would bless and take care of it. According to Syrian law, a girl who has completed the age of 13 can marry. It is a marriage according to the Syrian legislation that we have made.”
THEY SAID ‘ERROR’
In his opinion, the prosecutor demanded their acquittal, stating that the defendants did not act with criminal intent, and that their actions should be evaluated within the scope of ‘error’, which is especially expressed in Article 30 of the TCK. The court acquitted the defendants at the first hearing. In the decision, it was stated: “As it is understood that the defendants, who are citizens of foreign states, acted without knowing the legal elements arising from the age of the victim in the legal definition of the false crimes in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Penal Code regarding the acts against the victim who was 13 years old on the date of the crime, it is accepted that they did not have any intentions pursuant to Article 30/1 of the TPC. It was decided that there is no room for imposing punishment on the defendants who make the inevitable mistake regarding the unjust nature of the acts committed in accordance with the provision of Article 30/4 of the TCK.”
Attorney Ceren Kalay Eken, member of ANKARA Bar Association Child Rights Center, reacted to the decision and said:
“Every crime committed in Turkey is tried by Turkish courts. The defendant’s nationality, ignorance of the language, and ignorance of the law cannot be considered an excuse. The provision in Article 103 of the TCK is very clear. You cannot seek the consent of a child under the age of 15.
The acquittal of the husband because he did not intend to commit a crime is a complete legal massacre. We cannot accept that the sexual abuse of children in the name of marriage is tolerated by the courts. A 13-year-old’s place is at school desks, not at the head of the crib.”