While the court disregards the young girl’s confession, Okan K. who entered the prison in May 2017, his family is preparing to apply to the Constitutional Court based on the rejection of the lower courts for rehearing requests. 25 years old Okan K who is in prison came across with his ex-girlfriend Tuğçe Ç. who is 22 years old.
THE INCIDENT BEGAN WITH A SLAP
This incident which is similar to stories that are generally used as storyline of movies, started in a high school in Kadiköy in 2010. Okan K. and his girlfriend Tuğçe started arguing with each other and then Okan K. slapped his girlfriend.
Due to the slap, while Tuğçe and her family were making a complaint about Okan K., they also alleged that the Zeynep Kamil Training and Research Hospital has determined that Tuğçe Ç. has lost her virginity at a previous date.
On this basis, the young girl in her testimony claimed that she had been raped by her boyfriend and as a result Okan K was taken into custody on account of the scope of the investigation that was carried out by the Üsküdar Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Okan K. who was released by the court on duty, refused all the accusations made against him and claimed that they had that argument and fight since he had found out that his girlfriend was flirting and texting with another boy. Three months after the investigations, Okan K. was sued by the Üsküdar Juvenile Heavy Penal Court for imprisonment of up to 15 years for the crimes of “qualified sexual abuse to a child” and “deprivation of liberty by using force and violence”.
OKAN K.’s PREVIOUS LAWYER got ALZHEIMER and SO HE COULD NOT FOLLOW AS WELL AS ATTEND THE COURT HEARINGS.
During the 2 year process of prosecution, while Okan K. did not accept the accusations, Tuğçe Ç. reasserted her claims. Within the scope of the case, the witnesses who were Okan K.’s school friends were also heard and they testified in favour of him.
During the proceedings stage, Okan K.’s lawyer was not attending the court hearings citing an excuse every time.Later on, Okan K.’s family acknowledged that the lawyer has got the Alzheimer disease and that he has been barred from being a lawyer.At the end of the trials, the court which was responsible of this case adjudicated that Okan K. has been found guilty.
Tuğçe Ç. had also claimed that one day when she went to Okan K.’s house in order to ask for her charger, he offered her tea and later he approached her for sexual purposes. As a result she was so afraid from the defendant that she fainted. In the decision taken by the court, it had been stated that even though Tuğçe Ç. was subjected to sexual abuse and later was threatened with a knife, according to the forensic report, the mental health of the young girl had been affected due to the sexual abuse but not to an extent to disrupt it seriously.
As a result, the court which had charged Okan K. with 2 years, 9 months and 10 days imprisonment for crimes of ‘deprivation of liberty’ and ‘threats with knives’ postponed his sentence for 5 years. However, the court sentenced him to 4 years, 5 months and 10 days imprisonment for the offence of ‘qualified sexual abuse’. Another lawyer who was working in the same law firm of Okan K.’s former lawyer appealed to this court decision. During this stage, Okan K. and Tuğçe Ç. did not confront with each other.
Unfortunately, even though the lawyer had appealed the lower court’s decision to the Penal Department No. 14 of the Supreme Court, on 23rd May 2017, the Penal Department reaffirmed the decision that had been taken by the lower court. Okan K. Subsequently Okan K. was taken into custody and was imprisoned. After 7 years since the incident, Okan K.’s family was experiencing a great shock because Okan K. was just about to enter the world of football games, and therefore in order to get him out of the prison as soon as possible, they hired a new lawyer.
CONFESSION AFTER YEARS PASSED FROM THE INCIDENT
Last year in November, Tuğçe Ç. went to her old neighbourhood and acknowledged from her friend that Okan K. has been imprisoned due to the case which she had filed. Later, Tuğçe Ç. texted her cousin Sevgi C. through Whatsapp explaining the situation and additionally stated that, ‘Okan K. did nothing to me, I deflowered myself. We were just going to complain that Okan hit me but when we went to the hospital for examination, they informed my parents that I am not a virgin and since I was scared from my mother and step father’s reaction in relation to this information, I said that Okan had done this to me. I was a child, I couldn’t imagine the consequences.’ This was what was Tuğçe said to Sevgi. Even though Sevgi C. proposed to Tuğçe Ç. that we have to explain this to the prosecutor but Tuğçe Ç. did not accept it because she feared from going to prison and so no one mentioned this message to anyone. Nevertheless, Sevgi C. found Okan K.’s mother, Semra K. from Facebook and she showed to Semra K. the WhatsApp messages of Tuğçe Ç.
COURT DID NOT ACCEPT
The mother Semra K. took a copy from the respective messages and went to the Anadolu Juvenile High Penal Court in order to request for a retrial. The mother Semra K. tried to persuade the young girl Tuğçe Ç. to confess what she had written in the messages in front of the court. As a consequence, Tuğçe Ç. sent a petition of confession to the Anadolu Juvenile High Penal Court No. 1, stating that ‘she is feeling guilty based on her previous statements and that her previous statements were not true but a lie’.
However, unfortunately the local court rejected the request of retrial because they believed that ‘Tuğçe K.’s statement of confession by the request of Okan K.’ family about her regret and sadness she felt since Okan K. has been sent to prison on its own is not enough to be seen as a reason in order to accept retrial.
As a result, Istanbul Juvenile High Penal Court No. 1 did not accept the petition of retrial request of Okan K.’s family. The family is now preparing to apply to the Constitutional Court for the acquaintance of their son Okan K. who is still in prison. Okan K.’s lawyer, Selahattin Par, has specified that ‘since all the domestic remedies have been exhausted and the very last retrial request was rejected, within 30 days they have to apply to the Constitutional Court in order to suspend the criminal punishment/charges inflicted on Okan K.’
Our Lawyer PAR has additionally stated that ‘If we are not successful before the Constitutional Court, in order to claim our rights, our next step would be to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Because of the recent alterations that has been made to the judges dealing with this case and the unfortunate health situation of the previous lawyer as well as the defamations, have made the legal process of this case so complex and long. More importantly, during this legal process my client has suffered psychologically as well as great losses in his career. Subsequently, we will also file cases for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages in order to compensate all the necessary damages suffered by my client.’