Official arrested for child abuse, lawyer son refuses to defend him

RİZE – Doğan News Agency

The lawyer son of a state official arrested on charges of sexually abusing two boys in the Black Sea province of Rize has refused to defend him.

Mehmet Nuri G., the deputy secretary general of Rize Special Provincial Administration, who is also the provincial head of the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay), was arrested on late Jan. 8 on charges of sexually abusing two boys aged 13 and 14. 

After the arrest, inspectors were sent to the province by Family and Social Polices Minister Sema Ramazanoğlu to probe the accusations Mehmet Nuri G. faced when he was the provincial head of the Social Services Directorate, which is also in charge of the orphanages.

The suspect is being represented by a lawyer appointed by the bar association as his son refused to defend him after seeing the charges and evidence against him during the police interrogation. 

The inspectors will also meet the child victims and their families.

According to the charges, Mehmet Nuri G. talked to a 14-year-old boy over Whatsapp and told him new clothes had arrived, inviting him to the Kızılay depot after working hours. When the boy was changing his clothes, the suspect sexually abused him, according to the boy’s testimony.

This was not the first time Mehmet Nuri G. was accused of sexually abusing children. Similar accusations were made against him in 2007 when he was when he was the provincial head of the Social Services Directorate.

According to the accusations, Mehmet Nuri G. was sexually abusing some boys in the city’s orphanage. 

The inspectors probing the incident at the time called for a trial, but there was a cover up and he was cleared of the charges, according to reports.