Prison sentences for defendants in H.K.G. bone age report forgery case
In the H.K.G. case, which has drawn significant public attention, the court has issued prison sentences due to a forged bone age report obtained to make the victim appear older than she was. While the main defendants were sentenced to 5 years in prison each, the charges against the doctors were dropped due to the statute of limitations.
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The allegations that H.K.G., the daughter of Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, founder of the Hiranur Foundation linked to the İsmailağa Community, was subjected to sexual abuse by Kadir İstekli under a religious marriage at a young age have remained on the public agenda for months. Following the public outcry over the incident, the claim that a forged report was prepared to make H.K.G. appear older was brought to the judiciary in a bone age case.
At the end of the trial, the court ruled that Kadir İstekli, Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, Mehmet Emin Marankoz, and Kubilay Şimşek committed the crime of 'forgery of an official document by inciting a public official' and sentenced each of them to 5 years in prison. In its verdict, the court concluded that hospital employee Kubilay Şimşek had someone else undergo the X-ray instead of the victim, and that the other defendants acted in concert during the forgery process.
DOCTORS' CASE DROPPED DUE TO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
The cases filed against Arif Kemal Özalp, Mahir Orhan Berker, and Melek Gözde Luş, who were among the defendants, were dropped due to the statute of limitations. Furthermore, while the travel bans for Kadir İstekli and Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel were lifted, it was decided that the judicial control measures for the other two defendants, Kubilay Şimşek and Mehmet Emin Marankoz, would continue.
Last week, the release of Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, who is being tried in the abuse case, on health grounds had become a target of public criticism.
‘TRUST IN JUSTICE IS SHAKEN’ REACTION
Representatives from the Union of Turkish Bar Associations Women's Law Commission and the Istanbul Bar Association Women's Rights Center, who have been following the case from the beginning, made assessments regarding the process. Commission observer lawyer Birsen Baş Topaloğlu stated, “In this decision, a dismissal was granted regarding the doctors due to the statute of limitations. A 5-year sentence, at the upper limit, was given to Gümüşel, Kadir İstekli, and the other two individuals who acted as intermediaries in the incident. We had been following this file from the beginning. Our requests to join the case had been rejected. We will also file an appeal in this regard. We believe that the victim parties of the case will also file their own appeals.”
Topaloğlu reacted to the release of Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel and made the following statement: “Father Gümüşel was released citing health reasons. Although some media outlets portrayed it as if he had not committed a crime, let us state that this is not true. The fact that this person was released while others with serious health problems are not, and that it was met in a way contrary to the secular order, with some political figures mediating it, has caused a second victimization. It has also caused trust in the law to be shaken.”