Special sergeant Musa Orhan was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on charges of sexually assaulting a Kurdish woman, İpek Er (18) and causing her death. However, at the hearing held at the Siirt High Penal Court No.1 yesterday (3 December) the court refused the demand to remand him in custody.

Orhan attended to the court via videolink from Ankara and did not make a statement, only requesting acquittal.

Musa Orhan faced charges of raping 18-year-old Er leading to her suicide in the southeastern province of Siirt (Eruh).

At the final hearing of the case at the Siirt High Penal Court No.1 the court decreased his sentence from 12 years to 10 years due to ‘good conduct’ and rejected the demand for Orhan to be remanded in custody.

The court had initially ruled that Orhan should be sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for “aggravated sexual assault” but later reduced his prison sentence, giving as grounds that “it may have a negative impact on his future”, and that he had attended all hearings regularly.

On 7 July, İpek Er, who lived in Beşiri district in Batman, southeast Turkey, applied to the Chief State Prosecution in Siirt and pressed charges against specialist sergeant Musa Orhan. In the statement, which she made just nine days before her suicide, Er complained that she was falsely imprisoned by Musa Orhan for 15 days, forced to use drugs and alcohol and raped multiple times. Following this statement, Er attempted suicide and subsequently died in hospital on 18 August 2020

Orhan was initially detained in July 2020, after complaints from Er’s family, but was subsequently released. A campaign was launched on social media with the hashtag #MusaOrhanTutuklansın, demanding his arrest. In the wake of public outrage over the death of İpek Er Orhan was rearrested on 19 August 2020. But a week later, he was once again released by court order.