153-year prison sentence sought for doctor in 'sexual assault' case

Antalya Kepez State Hospital's Gastroenterology Specialist Dr. Ahmet Taner Cantimur, who was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting 7 female patients during examinations, faces up to 153 years in prison.

'QUALIFIED SEXUAL ASSAULT ACT'

In the indictment prepared by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against Cantimur, it was stated that the complainants generally visited the hospital for bowel and stomach ailments and were examined by Cantimur, who is a specialist in the field. The indictment noted that the common complaint among all the complainants was related to the way Ahmet Taner Cantimur conducted the examinations, and that some complainants had filed their complaints with the Kepez State Hospital administration, some with the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, and others with the Ministry of Health Communication Center.

According to the report by Gazete Duvar, the indictment stated that the common subject of the complaints was that the suspect, Ahmet Taner Cantimur, took his patients into the examination room alone, undressed them during the examination, exceeded the scope of the examination to commit sexual assault, and made sexually suggestive remarks to some of them.

EXPERT REPORT INCLUDED

The indictment also included an expert report regarding the incident. The expert report stated that for complainant T.A., a rectal examination was a complementary element of the physical examination, but that it lasting 15-20 minutes was contrary to procedure, and that there was no indication requiring a vaginal examination. The report also noted that there was no indication requiring a vaginal examination for complainant D.D., that it was not in accordance with medical examination procedures and scientific data, and that while rectal examinations were appropriate for the diagnosis of the disease for other complainants, there was no indication for a vaginal examination.

'IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE ACT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT TOOK PLACE'

The indictment, which demands up to 153 years in prison for Ahmet Taner Cantimur, included the following statements:

"When the statements taken, the complainants' mutually confirming and overlapping testimonies, the witness statements supporting these testimonies, the information gathering reports, and the expert report are evaluated together; it is understood that the complainants generally went to Kepez State Hospital due to stomach and bowel ailments, were examined there by the suspect who is a specialist, that the suspect's rectal examination of the complainants was in accordance with medical data for the purpose of detecting the complainants' ailments, but that the suspect performed vaginal examinations on many of his patients, committed qualified sexual assault against complainants D.D., F.D., F.K., and T.A., committed this act more than once against complainant T.A., and carried out acts of sexual assault against complainants D.B., N.S., and S.U."

DENIED THE ACCUSATIONS

Suspect Ahmet Taner Cantimur denied the accusations in his statement. Cantimur claimed that he was the only specialist in this field at the hospital, that he examined female patients alone in the examination room behind a screen, that no one accompanied him, that he performed examinations for patients with stomach and bowel ailments manually via the anal route as required by the nature of the work, that he could sometimes detect advanced cancer cases in this way, that he performed this type of examination due to the nature of the work, and that he did not sexually assault the complainants. The trial of Ahmet Taner Cantimur will begin in the coming days.