Child bride’s husband, family face 18 years in jail

SİİRT – Anadolu Agency

Women's platform staged a protest over the death of 14-year-old mother. AA Photo

While suspicions over the death of a 14-year-old mother are still yet to be enlightened, an official lawsuit has been filed against the family of child bride Kader Ertem, her husband and the husband’s family, on charges of “deprivation of liberty” and “sexual harassment of children.”

The suspects, identified as Musa Ertem, Mehmet Atak, Suna Ertem, Tahir Atak and Sabriye Sivil, face 18 years in jail, according to reports.

Ertem was found dead with a gunshot wound in her home in the southeastern province of Siirt on Jan. 11, a few days after her newborn second child had died.

A complaint was filed to the local gendarmerie when Ertem gave birth on Sep. 12, 2013 because she was too young, Public Prosecutor Bayram Bayar has said, adding that a petition for investigation of the suspects had been delivered to the Pervari Public Prosecutors’ Office.

Bayar also said there were three separate cases into the death of Ertem, including a case into her marriage to her husband, Mehmet Atak, with a religious ceremony. The second case is into the village head who did not inform the authorities, despite knowing that Ertem was too young to be married while she was living with Atak under informal conditions. The third case is into the families of Atak and Ertem.

Atak’s family claims that Ertem committed suicide because she was depressed after her second child died. However, Ertem’s father said they was expecting further forensic tests that would see whether his daughter had gunshot residue in her hand, in order to enlighten the circumstances of her death.

“The documents given after the autopsy in Diyarbakır indicate that she was shot by a hunting rifle and not by a gun. I want light to be shed on her death,” the father said, noting that a hunting rifle was an unusual weapon to use in a suicide.

The husband, who was performing his military service at the time when the incident took place, said he believed his young wife had died as a result of an “accident.”