Breaking News: No detainees left in the TBMM harassment case! Defendants released

The second hearing of the case filed regarding allegations of sexual abuse against intern students at the TBMM was held today at the Ankara 57th Criminal Court of First Instance. In the first hearing, the court had decided to continue the detention of the four defendants in custody, while lifting the judicial control measure applied to the defendant who was not in custody.

The defendants in the file are being tried on charges of 'sexual harassment against a child' and 'sexual abuse of a child by molestation.' The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is demanding up to 16 years and 6 months of imprisonment for each of the five defendants.

INTERIM DECISION ANNOUNCED

The court panel announced its interim decision in the case where a total of 5 defendants, 4 of whom were in custody, are being tried. It was stated that there was no suspicion of the defendants fleeing and that the time spent in detention was taken into account, and their release was ordered.

The case was adjourned to May 15.

'IT IS NOT NEW, WE WARNED'

CHP Istanbul Deputy Mahmut Tanal, who followed the hearing, made a statement on his social media account after the hearing. Tanal stated, "The harassment allegations experienced at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey are not new. We submitted a research motion on this issue in 2018, we warned, we recorded it. However, the necessary steps were not taken, and responsibilities were consciously ignored."

DEFENDANTS HAD ADMITTED TO THE MESSAGES

One of the detained defendants, Halil İlker Güner, admitted that he wrote the messages he sent to the intern student, which included, "My pistachio, do you want to meet with me that much? You were very beautiful today. You are my little lover." In his defense, Güner said, "I say these things when I am talking to people around me as well."

Another detained defendant, İbrahim Beşlioğlu, also confirmed the messages he sent to the intern student. Beşlioğlu defended himself by saying, "I am very regretful. It happened during a moment of weakness. It was the first time I did something like this. One evening I was bored, my morale was low. My relationship with my wife was bad. We are already in the process of divorce right now. I did not write the messages with sexual intent."

News Source: 12punto