Ipek Er, 18, shot herself in mid-July, after she said Musa Orhan abducted and sexually abused her for twenty days in the southeastern province of Batman. Dying in hospital over a month later, the young woman left behind a letter detailing the incident. Er had filed a complaint and given a deposition on July 7 at Siirt Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Orhan was detained on July 16, after a women's rights group posted the suicide letter online, outraging many on social media, who called for for his arrest.
Turkey has been rocked by a number of cases of violence against women that have garnered national attention, and caused mass protests. Demonstrators took to the streets following the murder of Pinar Gultekin, another Kurdish woman, calling for an end to femicide and demanding Ankara remain party to a Convention that guarantees women’s rights.
The Turkish officer’s release on Tuesday came after his lawyer, Mehmet Erkan Akkus, appealed a court’s decision for his arrest, claiming there is no reason to believe Orhan will flee before his trial, reported Bianet.
This is the second time Orhan has been released from detention, having been returned to detention on August 19 after Er’s death prompted widespread criticism of his release.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) condemned Orhan’s release on Wednesday, saying the court’s decision “resonates with the sort of mentality the government wants to create in society,” and calling for his immediate re-arrest.
Turkey’s interior ministry released a statement late Wednesday, rejecting claims that it had influenced the court’s decision to release the accused, saying “it is not possible” for them to intervene in judicial affairs.
An HDP delegation visited the parents of Er later on Wednesday, afterwards releasing a statement saying: The “family wants justice for their daughter.”
