In a controversial decision given in September 2010, a local court in Mardin decreed for the minimum punishment in the case of the mass rape of then 12-year-old N.Ç. The court decreed on the assumption that the girl gave her consent for the rape. The decision was now upheld by the Court of Appeals 14^th Criminal Chamber.

N.Ç.'s lawyer Reyhan Yalçındağ pointed out in an interview with bianet that her client's case was not a singular incident. She emphasized that there are several similar cases.

Yalçındağ criticized the fact that in the legal system of Turkey human rights defenders are easily being sent to prison while rapists are not being punished:

"Unfortunately, there were parallel developments with previous announcements we made. I say 'unfortunately' because we appealed and we used the way to the Court of Appeals with the expectation that the decision according to domestic law would be corrected since we did not consider it correct and legal", the lawyer criticized.

"In the past month, we made an announcement on the notification of the Court of Appeals Chief Prosecution regarding the approval of the decision. As usual, a decision contrary to the law has been upheld. Hereby, it has been registered in Turkish law that a 12-year-old child agreed to being raped and gave her consent".

Yalçındağ continued, "In other words, she is twelve years old but she endured being raped by 32 men over the period of one and a half years and she gave her consent as well etc. This is contrary to science too. Only standing the physical pain is torture in itself. Saying that there is any consent is ridiculous".

"This is not a singular case. We should not talk about N.Ç. only. Rapists in Turkey are not being punished. A journalist, a human rights defender, a politician or a women's rights defender are easily being put to prison because they are in the opposition and they stay behind bars for years. No one cares. But the ones who commit a crime against humanity are walking around comfortably. Putting these two pictures side by side, everybody who lives in Turkey needs to think a little", Yalçındağ remarked.

The case

The Mardin 1^st High Criminal Court applied the lower limit of punishment to the offenders. This decision was based on the reason that N.Ç. "gave her consent to the rape since she did not oppose the rapists and she was aware of everything". The Court of Appeals Public Chief Prosecutor pleaded for the approval of the local court's ruling. Eventually, the Court of Appeals 14^th Criminal Chamber decided to uphold the decision and closed the case. 28 perpetrators who were facing prison sentences of at least five years each according to the law were de facto sentenced to prison terms of between 1 year and eight months and five years.

The case is currently being investigated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The ECHR is now checking the file according to Article 35 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Admissibility Criteria) and will handle the case once this step has been successfully completed. (ÇT/VK)