Sexual abuse sentence for AKP MP's brother: Court said 'child consented'

Yusuf İnci, brother of AKP Sakarya MP Ali İnci, who was tried for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl whose father was in prison, was sentenced to 26 years, 6 months, and 22 days in prison. The sentence, which was finalised upon approval by the Court of Cassation, has come back into the spotlight following a controversial development.

According to a report by journalist Alican Uludağ, the Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, which had previously rejected the defendant's "rectification of judgment" request three times, accepted it on the fourth application. The inclusion of the phrase "the child consented" in reference to the 14-year-old victim in the reasoning drew widespread criticism.

Lawyer Zafer Kazan, who has been following the case, reacted sharply to the decision, asking: "Does the prosecutor's office not know that the consent of a 14-year-old child has no legal validity? This file is persistently being pursued by one hand. What changed on the fourth application?"

STATEMENT FROM THE AKP MP

AKP MP Ali İnci, in a statement regarding the case, said: "If my brother is guilty, let him serve his sentence. I did not interfere in this case and I will not. Using my identity as a member of parliament is out of the question for me."

WHAT HAPPENED?

Yusuf İnci, brother of AKP MP Ali İnci, who owns petrol stations and a factory in the Pamukova district of Sakarya, was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl named R.B.

Yusuf İnci fled to Côte d'Ivoire for a period before returning to Turkey during the trial proceedings and was arrested on 22 January 2019. The verdict in the case — in which Zafer Kazan, then president of the Sakarya Bar Association, took on the representation of the victim child — was handed down in 2019. The Sakarya 3rd Heavy Criminal Court sentenced defendant Yusuf İnci to 25 years in prison, with reductions applied, for the aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

The court's reasoned judgment stated that in 2014, A.K., who ran a hairdressing salon in the Pamukova district of Sakarya, had "found a 'young woman' for defendant Yusuf İnci for the purpose of prostitution." The judgment noted that A.K. directed R.B., a 14-year-old girl working at the salon, into a sexual encounter with defendant Yusuf İnce, and described how "A.K. arranged a meeting between defendant Yusuf İnce and the victim in a room at the shop." The judgment stated that three incidents of sexual abuse occurred in this manner, and that a friend of the victim who received a similar proposition refused it, confronted the victim, and went to the police to report the incident.

Following an appeal, the case was referred to the 14th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation. The chamber, finding that an error had been made in applying the sentence reduction, corrected the sentence in 2021 to 26 years, 6 months, and 22 days and upheld it.