Posted on by Jenny White

Binnaz is fourteen. She went to sign up for a trade school in the town of Ordu. Suddenly a man covered her head with his sweatshirt and verbally sexually harrassed her. When she began to scream, he took out a knife and slit her throat. She was taken to the hospital where she received fourteen stitches. The assailant B.A. (the newspapers published Binnaz’s last name and photo, but the assailant’s identity is protected) was arrested a short time later and confessed. He said he didn’t know the girl and didn’t know why he did something like that. So far, the story sounds like it could have happened anywhere. But here’s what happened next.

The court decided that since the assailant had a fixed abode and no previous arrests, he was released on his own recognizance! Binnaz’s father was outraged. He suggested that by this logic he could do the same thing, stab B.A. in the evening, be released by morning. (click here, in Turkish)

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