Defense lawyer in Siverek rape case asked victim 'Why didn't you commit suicide?'

At the first hearing of a rape case tried at Siverek 1st Heavy Penal Court, defense lawyer Murat Toprak asked a victim testifying via SEGBİS link, "If you were raped, there were so many knives there, why didn't you commit suicide?" The court released three defendants being tried in custody at the same hearing; the number of detained defendants fell from six to three.

The case filed regarding the abduction and rape of a woman in Siverek district of Urfa covers charges of "qualified sexual assault" and "depriving a person of liberty through coercion, threat, or deception." The victim attended the hearing accompanied by a psychologist.

At the hearing, a separate tension arose when witnesses who do not speak Turkish requested to testify in Kurdish. Representatives of the Free Women's Movement (TJA), Human Rights Association (İHD) Urfa Branch, and Urfa Bar Association were present in the courtroom to observe.

This was the first time Siverek 1st Heavy Penal Court convened in this case; in a previous similar case, Urfa Heavy Penal Courts had opted to try defendants in custody.