© DHAMinister Şahin calls the reduction ruling in a rape case unacceptable.
Government ministers and deputies from opposition parties all joined an outcry regarding a court decision that lowers the sentence for 26 suspects who were tried for allegedly raping a 13 year old girl. Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin called the ruling 'unacceptable and worrying,' in a written statement. Government ministers and opposition members have joined an outcry over a verdict by the Supreme Court of Appeals that ruled the 13-year-old victim in an alleged rape case had consented to sex with 26 suspects.
Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin called the ruling "unacceptable and worrying," in a written statement issued Tuesday after the Supreme Court of Appeals recently upheld the ruling of a local court in the southeastern province of Mardin to sentence the suspects to the minimum penalty.
"A child's consent is not looked after [when investigating a criminal] act committed against a minor who is categorized as being incapable of understanding the meaning and consequences of the deed [in question]," Şahin said.
The victim, identified only by her initials N.Ç., met the female suspects T. and E., also identified only by their initials, in 2002, after which time the two women facilitated the victim's having intercourse with 26 individuals in exchange for money.
"A judiciary that is incapable of upholding the rights of a 13-year-old child entertains no capacity whatsoever to uphold the Constitution," wrote Education Minister Ömer Çelik on Twitter on Tuesday.
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