‘They came with special operations police to take the child to medical examination’

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"The confidentiality order imposed on this file by considering the best interests of the child really fits its purpose here. Neither we nor the attorney of the opposing party can now see the file. Videos showing the moment when the crime was committed have been added to the file.

"The opposing side - most probably - objected to the confidentiality order to watch those videos. As far as we have learned, one of the videos was captured at the defendant's house. We also suspect that they have deleted those images. They probably want to see the videos and make defense accordingly. We will follow up this case..."

It is Hande Gündoğdu from the Children and Women First Association who says, "We will not leave the child and the family alone."

Gündoğdu is one of the attorneys of 10-year-old Ö.D., who was sexually assaulted by Nizamettin Ş. in Turkey's eastern province of Ağrı.

After people learned about the incident on July 17, the perpetrator was arrested. Reminding us that thousands of messages were tweeted, which is very important, Gündoğdu adds that the family has been left alone.

Minister's reaction remained on social media

Especially the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services said that "they would specially deal with this issue," but she did not call the family even for once, attorney Gündoğdu says, briefly adding the following:

"The Minister of Family reacted, just like everyone else. However, her reaction has remained on social media. They have not called the family even for once. They did not attend to this incident. The family has been really left alone now. If the family feels strong about it, they can struggle.

"We know that the defendant is the brother of one of the advisors to Mayor and attorney Sayan. It is really difficult for a family. The defendant looks powerful and, for this reason, the family needs serious help."

Gündoğdu also says that the prosecutor conducting the investigation into the incident is a woman and she is seriously investigating it.

Indicating that the deposition of the child was taken on the day of the incident in a way complying with the procedures, she adds that they did not allow the child's deposition to be taken for the second time.

"The second deposition will aggrieve the child," attorney Gündoğdu says, briefly continuing as follows:

"After the Ministry said, 'We are following the issue,' special operations police and ambulances were sent to the neighborhood where the child and the family live. The family and child got afraid. The family was told that the deposition of the child would be taken for the second time.

"It had been almost a month since the incident happened and they went to the house of the child with special operations police and ambulances to take the child to physical and psychological examination... As we saw that even their arrival in the neighborhood like that harmed the family, we did not allow it. The deposition of the child had already been taken.

"The child may have been afraid under such circumstances, the child may have been aggrieved again. We will file a criminal complaint about it; as far as we know, the prosecutor's office did not make such a request."

'We are waiting for the indictment'

Concluding her remarks, attorney Gündoğdu has also referred to the report given by the psychologist who examined the child: "The investigation is about to be completed. We are waiting for the indictment after that. The Ağrı Bar Association also announced that it would offer support.

"The report prepared by the psychologist who examined the child has been delivered and it has indicated that the statements of the child are reliable. This once again shows that the child does not lie.

"This shows that the remarks of the child are reliable. We will not leave the family alone and will follow this case to the end."

Men abused at least 300 children in 2 years

According to news compiled by bianet from local and national newspapers, news websites and agencies, men abused 161 children in the first seven months of 2020 and 139 children in the first seven months of 2019. The number of children abused by men in the last two years is at least 300.

(EMK/SD)