Turkish man accused of raping Swedish student gets good conduct abatement

ISTANBUL

A 32-year-old man’s sentence for raping a Swedish student in Istanbul has been reduced from 9 to 7.5 years.

Muhammet Sobay Balcı, who was accused of raping 24-year-old Swedish student S.M.B., who came to Istanbul to learn Turkish last year, received a reduction in his penalty on “good conduct.” 

Balcı did not attend the hearing of the case, as he was put on trial without arrest, but his lawyer, Hüseyin Kaya, raised eyebrows with his earlier defense at the hearing.

“Everything that the defendant experienced with the woman, who he had a drink with at the bar and went home with, was in line with the natural flow of life,” he said.

When the chief judge stepped in and asked him if he was saying such activity was “normal,” Kaya said his client was simply attempting to be judged within the principles of Swedish culture. 

“In Turkish culture, think about male psychology. There is woman who comes with you as far as home, and think that she is not wearing a skirt that can be taken off easily over the course of an incident, but wearing something like tights,” he said.