She was abused and killed... Decision in the case of 9-year-old Syrian Gina

Two defendants were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for the death of 9-year-old Syrian Gina Mercimek, whose body was found in a water well with a briquette tied to her neck after she got lost in Kilis and who was understood to have been sexually abused.

Gina Mercimek, a primary school student of Syrian nationality, did not return to her home in Okçular District after leaving school on April 4, 2023. When his relatives did not get any results from the search, they reported the situation to the police. Relatives of the girl who disappeared while the police teams were searching said that they were suspicious of the movements of their neighbor in the neighborhood, Hüseyin Boğuç. Thereupon, the police entered Boğuç's house and during their investigation, they found Gina's body with a briquette tied to her neck in the water well in the garden.

In the autopsy performed at the Forensic Medicine Institute, it was determined that Gina was strangled to death after being sexually abused. As part of the investigation into the incident, Hüseyin Boğuç, the owner of the house where Gina's body was found, and his friend Azittin Altınöz were detained and arrested. A lawsuit was filed against the suspects, demanding aggravated life imprisonment for the crimes of 'killing people with monstrous feelings', 'sexual abuse of children' and 'deprivation of liberty'. While Hüseyin Boğuç, one of the defendants arrested during the ongoing hearings, was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, Azittin Altınöz was acquitted.

In its examination upon the objection of the child's family, the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the decision of the local court, ruling that the acquitted defendant should also be punished and the sentence to be given to the other defendant should be applied to the maximum extent.

TRIAL HAS STARTED AGAIN

During the retrial at the 2nd High Criminal Court, the defendant Hüseyin Boğuç, who was detained on charges of intentional murder, sexual abuse and deprivation of liberty, and Azittin Altınöz, who was detained on another charge, participated from the prison where he was detained, via the Audio and Video Information System (SEGBİS). The family of the murdered child, lawyers of the Ministry of Family and Social Services and lawyers of the parties were present at the hearing. Repeating his previous defense, Boğaç claimed that he was not guilty and requested his release. Defendant Altınöz claimed that he was not guilty and requested his release.

The hearing prosecutor demanded that both defendants be punished for the crimes of 'deprivation of liberty', 'sexual abuse of a child' and 'qualified intentional murder'. The court sentenced the defendants Hüseyin Boğuç and Azittin Altınöz to aggravated life imprisonment for the crimes of 'deprivation of liberty', 'sexual abuse of a child' and 'qualified intentional murder'.

At the end of the hearing, Sümeyye Gökçe, the lawyer of the child's family, told reporters that, as a member of the Earth's Children Association and the family's lawyers, they had been following the process from the very beginning. Stating that the process took more than three years, Lawyer Gökçe said:

"In the verdict hearing after the Supreme Court's reversal decision, the court sentenced both defendants to the maximum limit, without any reduction, for the crimes of 'depriving a person of liberty for sexual purposes against a child with more than one person through the use of fraud', 'sexual abuse of a child by inserting an organ into the body with more than one person' and 'intentional killing of a minor woman with the purpose of hiding the crime', and the defendants received the heaviest punishment they could receive in this world."