JINHA

RIHA – Lawyers in the Northern Kurdish city of Urfa are saying that the Turkish state’s decision to release the three men accused of sexual abusing a 16-year-old high school student is contrary to Turkish law.

The girl, a high school student in the city of Urfa, told a school counselor that two of her teachers and another man she did not know sexually abused her. The three were arrested on April 24 and the girl was sent to the local forensic medical institute for investigation. Now, the state has sent the girl to a rehabilitation center tied to the Ministry of Family and Social Policies while the suspects continue to walk free.

Hikmet Delebe, chair of the Urfa Bar Associaton, said that Turkish penal law requires the subjects to be held in detention, not released.

(fk/cm)c