TIP Spokesperson Kadıgil brings it to the parliamentary agenda: He confessed to abusing his daughter after being acquitted

Kadıgil questioned Minister Tunç about the man who confessed to abusing his daughter after his acquittal. Sera Kadıgil submitted a parliamentary question regarding Hakan P., who confessed to his crime by sending a petition to the court.

Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP) Spokesperson Sera Kadıgil has brought the case of Hakan P., who was acquitted in 2022 in a trial where he was charged with abusing his own daughter and who confessed to his crime in a petition sent to the court on May 7, 2024, to the parliamentary agenda. In the parliamentary question she submitted for Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç to answer, Kadıgil stated, "What are your views regarding the decision reached in this case?"

In 2019, the 7-year-old girl was taken by her mother to the Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, on the grounds that she was "experiencing learning difficulties," and after the examination, it was revealed that the child had been subjected to abuse.

‘ACQUITTED ON THE GROUNDS THAT THERE WERE NO WITNESSES OR CAMERA RECORDS’

The victim child, whose statement was taken as part of the investigation launched into the diagnosis, stated that she had been subjected to abuse by her own father and step-brother on various dates in 2019.

Following these events, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit against the father, Hakan P. (56), and the brother, Hacı P. (25), at the Ankara 33rd High Criminal Court for the crime of "child sexual abuse," but the defendants denied the accusations in court. The defendant father and brother were acquitted in 2022 on the grounds that there were "no witnesses or camera records."

Two years after his acquittal, on May 7, 2024, Hakan P. confessed in a petition sent to the court that he and his son had committed the crime in question.

‘HAKAN P. STATED THAT HE HAD DENIED THE CRIME AND WAS REGRETFUL’

TIP Spokesperson Sera Kadıgil brought Hakan P.'s confessions to the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). In the parliamentary question she submitted for Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç to answer, Kadıgil noted the following:

“News has been reflected in the press and public opinion that Hakan P., who was tried for abusing his own daughter and acquitted in 2022 due to the lack of ‘witnesses and camera records,’ sent a petition to the court confessing that he had committed the abuse and reporting that his son, Hacı P., had also committed the crime of abuse against his daughter. In the petition he sent to the court, Hakan P. stated that he had denied the crime at the prosecutor's office and in court to escape punishment and that he was regretful; in another petition he submitted 2 days later on May 9, he also confessed that his son, Hacı P., had committed the crime in question.

In 2019, the 7-year-old girl was taken by her mother to the Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, on the grounds that she was experiencing learning difficulties, and after the examination, it was understood that the girl had been subjected to abuse.

Although the child, whose statement was taken as part of the investigation, explained that she had been subjected to abuse by her father Hakan P. and her step-brother Hacı P., the defendants claimed in their defense that Hakan P. and the girl's mother were in the process of divorce and that they were being slandered.

In 2022, despite the opposition of the presiding judge, the court acquitted the defendants, stating that there was ‘no evidence such as witness testimony or camera records’ and that ‘concrete and convincing evidence could not be obtained.’”

‘WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS REGARDING THE DECISION REACHED IN THE CASE CONCERNING CHILD ABUSE?’

The questions Sera Kadıgil directed to Yılmaz Tunç are as follows:

1. The requirement to seek “concrete evidence” for catalog crimes, including the crime of child sexual abuse, which was included in the 4th Judicial Package you issued in 2021, has drawn reactions from the public, with claims that it reinforces impunity and further encourages those intending to commit the crime. In this specific case, it is seen that the right to a fair trial, which resulted in impunity due to the requirement of this condition, has been violated. In this context, what are your views regarding the decision reached in the case concerning the abuse of a 7-year-old girl by her father and brother?

2. Have any protective and supportive measures been applied regarding the child victim of abuse and her mother, who was in the process of divorce during the trial process?

‘WHAT IS THE NUMBER OF FILES THAT DID NOT TURN INTO PROSECUTION ON THE GROUNDS THAT THERE WAS NO CONCRETE EVIDENCE?’

3. With this regulation in 2021, what is the number of investigations opened regarding the crime of child sexual abuse? How many of these investigations have turned into prosecutions? What is the number of files that did not turn into prosecution on the grounds that there was no concrete evidence? How many of these files contained allegations of children being subjected to domestic abuse?