A twenty-two-year-old man who was wed to a twelve-year-old by an imam in 2005 in Diyarbakır and faced trial for "first-degree child sexual abuse" was acquitted after eleven years due to the lack of accurate and persuasive evidence.
The then twelve-year-old S.G., living in a county of Diyarbakır province, was forced to marry her aunt’s then 22-year-old son O.S., who was living in another county of the province, in 2005.
The trial started after the child’s mother A.D filed charges after she found out that her daughter was forced to marry. The child had returned home ten days after the wedding. O.S., who testified as a suspect, claimed that the child had consented to the wedding and confessed that they had a religious marriage ceremony.
A statement from the victim could not be taken for a long time after her return home, not until 2007. The victim stated that she had been unofficially married to her cousin and that she married him of her own free will.
The trial was suspended for another seven years since the victim could not be reached until 2014. The victim, changing her testimony, said that "I ran away from home and married in 2005. We lived together for ten days. We did not have any sexual intercourse in the meantime. I understood my fault when my mother made a complaint, and I went back."
The court decision stated that during the eleven year period of the trial a proper medical report of the victim could not be obtained. The victim married and had children in the meantime. The suspect O.S. was acquitted due to lack of accurate and persuasive evidence.
