Sena Dolar

 

ISTANBUL - Feminist lawyer Meriç Eyüboğlu, who applied to the Constitutional Court for the release of Nevin Yıldırım, who uses her right to self-defense against systematic rape, drew attention to the fact that the file has been in the Supreme Court Criminal Department since 2019. Meriç called for sensitivity to the public and said: “The duty of careful and effective investigation has not been fulfilled in the file. Nevin is looking at all of us, not just those who declared her guilty and who carried out this trial.”

 

Nevin Yıldırım had murdered Nurettin Gider, who systematically raped her, on August 29, 2012, using her self-defense. Detained on the same day, Nevin was arrested the next day and put in Isparta E Type Closed Prison. While Nevin, whose trial began on October 4, 2013, received support from many parts of Turkey, feminist lawyers also followed suit.

 

Not seen as self-defense

 

On March 25, 2015, at the final hearing at the Yalvaç Courthouse, the male judiciary, which gave all kinds of discounts and acquittals to men who killed women, gave Nevin a life sentence without applying the provisions of self-defense and no reduction. Women’s organizations, including lawyers, were not taken to the courthouse on the order of the prosecutor and were battered.

 

The file is held in the Supreme Court

 

Nevin’s case was sent back to the local court by the Supreme Court in 2017. However, the local court gave the same sentence again. The case, whose appeal was examined on March 23, 2019, was approved in the Penal Department No. 1 of the Supreme Court. There was no reduction in the penalty either. Thereupon, the Supreme Court Chief Prosecutor objected to the penalty "in terms of unjust provocation". The file has been held for review at the Supreme Court Criminal Department since November 2019.

 

Nevin, who has been imprisoned in Antalya Prison for eight years and eight months, has become one of the symbols of self-defense for women.

 

Application to the Constitutional Court for release

 

Feminist lawyer Meriç Eyüboğlu filed an "emergency release" application to the Constitutional Court on May 17, due to the inconclusive application they made to the Supreme Court for Nevin’s release due to her long detention. Speaking to our agency, Meriç stated that they have applied to the Constitutional Court due to the lack of positive results from the applications made before the Supreme Court and the violation of the effective investigation obligation.

 

‘Nevin is one of the women who took care of her life’

 

Reminding that Nevin is one of the women who protect her life, Meriç emphasized that Nevin’s story stands at an important place in the journey of women to claim their own life. Stating that they met Nevin during the campaign "Abortion is the right and the decision of women" in 2012, Meriç said: “Nevin entered our life because she got pregnant as a result of rape and wanted to terminate the pregnancy by going to Isparta State Hospital, but from there the doctors sent her back. The context was the right to abortion and that is how our ways crossed.”

 

‘The good conduct time given to men was not applied to Nevin’

Underlining that "unjust provocation" and "good conduct time" were not applied to Nevin, Meriç said: “The good conduct time applied when the perpetrator was a man was never applied in Nevin. The Yalvaç Heavy Penal Court made a decision. The file went to the Supreme Court and overturned the decision. But then the same decision came out. And in that decision, neither "unjust provocation" nor "good conduct time" was applied. We are talking about someone who comes to home and systematically raped her, and that is why we are discussing self-defense. The fact that none of the good conduct times, which are widely distributed to men, are applied shows how differently these regulations, which are introduced in the law without specifying gender, are applied between women and men.”

 

‘Nevin’s eight-year detention period will not be deducted from her sentence’

 

Meriç shared the information that the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court objected to the re-evaluation of the decision in terms of "unjust provocation" despite the same decision after the reversed decision in the Supreme Court, adding that the file has been in the Supreme Court Criminal Department since 2019. Stating that they have no information about the fate of the file, Meriç said: “Nevin is still in prison as a prisoner. In the process after the Yalvaç High Criminal Court has made its decision, the periods of appeal and cassation are not included in the period of detention. Is that possible? It cannot be. Nevin has been under arrest for eight years and egiht months and it is not clear when the file will be handled.”

 

‘Effective investigation obligation violated’

 

Noting that they applied to the Constitutional Court because the detention process could not be accepted as a long period of detention in the Supreme Court, Meriç continued as follows: “We could not get a positive result from the applications we made before the Supreme Court. Therefore, we finished this process and went to the Constitutional Court. Of course, we discussed male violence in our application to Constitutional Court. It is at this time that withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention is being discussed. Because this is a case of male violence and the obligation of careful and effective investigation has not been fulfilled in this file. None of the evidence in favor of Nevin has yet been collected. Nevin has a statement about rape from the very beginning. And this has never been investigated. Ignoring this in the rape file, it is not possible for the decision made to be fair. We have a legal debate in terms of violation of effective investigation obligation and non-collection of evidence. Let's see what the Constitutional Court will say.”

 

‘Nevin looks at all of us’

 

Stating that the slogan “It doesn't go when you wash it, Nevin is looking at you” has entered the lives of women since then, Meriç called on the public and said: “Nevin looks at all of us, not just those who declared her guilty and who carried out this trial. It is our work to demand freedom for Nevin.”