A Turkish man has been sentenced to 108 years in prison

A Turkish man has been sentenced to 108 years in prison.Photo pixabay.com

A Turkish man has been sentenced to 108 years in prison for sexual abuse of at least eight Syrian children in a refugee camp.

This was reported by Turkish media.
The 29-year-old man worked as a cleaner in a tent camp in Nizip Gaziantep province near the border with Syria. The court found him guilty of having abused eight children at the camp toilets. He will have to paid the children between 1.5 and 5 Turkish lira (between 4 and 14 million kroner), according to the news agency Dogan.
The man’s defenders asked for an acquittal, saying that the confession he had given to the police was given under duress. The judges did not emphasize, and sentenced the 29-year-old to 108 years in prison. The verdict was still milder than the prosecutor’s request, which was 289 years in prison.
The refugee camp where the atrocities occurred accommodate about 10,800 refugees, and has been visited by a number of international dignitaries. It is located just next to a camp made of container homes in Nizip which was visited by Germany’s Prime Minister Angela Merkel in April.
During the trial, the accused argued that he was made a scapegoat to cover up the crimes of others and prevent a bigger scandal.
Aid agencies have warned that Syrian refugee children are very vulnerable to predators, especially because the topic is very taboo.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today