The Siirt Public Chief Prosecutor finished the investigation into the sexual harassment and rape of nine girls over the past two years. 19 of the 20 defendants are facing aggravated prison sentences of at least 15 years each under charges of "aggravated sexual abuse".

The first hearing of the case will be held before the High Criminal Court of Siirt in south-eastern Turkey on 2 June 2010. The case will be tried in closed sessions because all of the victims are underage.

A separate investigation related to the suspects younger than 18 years old who are accused of sexual abuse and rape is still being continued. This investigation is not carried out by the Siirt Public Prosecution but by the Juvenile Courts Prosecution.

Siirt Bar Association lawyer Servet Daniş, President of the Commission for the Rights of the Child and joint lawyer of the victims, talked to bianet about the case. He said that eleven lawyers from the Siirt Bar Association committed to the case.

Forensic Medicine report expected

Lawyer Daniş said that only two of the victims were under national protection, the other seven girls were brought to their families.

"The prepared indictment envisages severe punishments for the aggravated offences of the defendants. We approve of the trial. The victims will be examined at the Forensic Medicine Institution in order to determine their psychological situation. This is a difficult procedure for the victims. Additionally, the length of the trial will be prolonged due to the density of the file. Another case of sexual abuse and harassment of children in a district of Siirt emerged one year ago. The trial could not be opened yet because the Forensic Medicine Institute has still not sent the referring report. I hope that the procedure of this trial will work differently", Daniş said.

Lawyer Daniş indicated that there was no need to transfer the case to a different city for security reasons since the Siirt Courthouse is considered as a safe courthouse. (SP/EÖ/VK)