Ministry interferes in rape case

ANKARA - Doğan News Agency

The Ministry of Family and Social Policies has objected to a court decision in which 19 convicts, accused of sexually abusing and raping a 14-year-old girl, were released.

The first hearing of the rape case, which accused 34 people, including two chief police officers, of abusing 14-year-old girl Ö.Ç. in June, was held in Sakarya 2nd Court for Serious Crimes on Aug. 29. All of the jailed suspects have been released.

The court justified its decision based on the fact that those accused were under the age of 18, and showed the period of their arrest and the collection of evidence against them. After the release decision, families of the convicts rushed to the Sakarya Courthouse to meet their children.

The Ministry of Family and Social Policies objected to the release decision on Aug 31. A total 34 men were arrested over the incident, however 14 of them were earlier released pending trial. Two of those released were police officers, one of whom has fled abroad. A separate court decision caused uproar last year when the sentences for 26 men convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl were reduced.