Court frees sexual abuse convict citing Constitutional Court ruling

A court in Istanbul has ordered the release on probation of a sexual offender who was sentenced to 16 years and 10 months imprisonment for assaulting a minor on the grounds that the article concerning the crime has been annulled by Turkey's top court but not yet replaced by a new law.

The Silivri Court of Serious Crimes ordered the release of 73-year-old Azmi Ergüney, who was found guilty of sexually abusing 12-year-old C.O., who was illegally working with him in the Marmaraereğlisi district of the northwestern province of Tekirdağ. Although it meted out a sentence of 16 years, 10 months and 15 days to the offender, the court released the man on probation on the grounds that the Turkish Constitutional Court annulled an article concerning the punishment of sexual acts committed against those under the age of 15.

According to the previous law, Article 103 of the Turkish Penal Code, all sexual acts committed against those under 15 were identified as sexual abuse. But in a May 26 decision issued following an appeal made by a local court, the top legal body ordered a change and set a six-month period for the change to go into force, with the expectation that it would be replaced with a new law to ensure there were no legal loopholes. 

In its decision concerning the offense committed by Ergüney, judges Abdullah Özer, Gülçin Erkul and Betül Onay said that although the suspect must de jure be placed under arrest, because the Constitutional Court's decision will only go into effect on Jan. 13, 2017 and because the legislative authority has not yet passed a new law to replace the annulled one, the convict was freed on probation. 

The judges said that if they ordered arrest and there is no replacement regulation enacted by the time the...