Some 3,000 abusers and rapists marry victims to avoid jail – Turkish appeals court

‘Up to 3,000 rapists and abusers in Turkey have married their victims in order to avoid prosecution, a senior official from the country’s Supreme Court of Appeals has said, local media reports.
Speaking to the parliament’s Sexual Abuse Prevention and Investigation Commission, set up to investigate sexual crimes, the head of the Supreme Court of Appeals department Mustafa Demirdag said kids as young as five years old could fall prey to sexual abuse. According to Demirdag, girls between 12 and 15 years old appeared to be more easily deceived by abusers.
The official said the number of officially registered marriages between the victims and their abusers had reached nearly 3,000, the Milliyet daily reported, adding that sentences of 16 years and eight months in prison were given in case where a complaint was filed.’
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