Lawyers and relatives of 5 men accused of rape arrested for trying to change victim's statement for $10,000

The lawyers and relatives of the the five young men accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in Kyrenia were arrested by Turkish Cypriot police for trying to interfere with the witness's statement.

Recall that five young men, YA, İA, ŞK, ZK and BY, all Turkish nationals who were in north Cyprus as tourists were arrested on April 14 after they were accused of allegedly raping an 18-year-old girl they met at an entertainment venue in Kyrenia on April 13.

The lawyers; MS, CA, MK and one MY who is known to be a butcher were arrested and taken to the Kyrenia high court on Tuesday May 7 on charges of obstructing the dispensation of justice and forming a secret alliance to interfere with witnesses. 

Police told the court that they made an agreement with a person for $10,000 to change the statement of the victim. 

 

Police said they were searching for one more suspect Ik in connection with the bribery. 

 

The mobile phone of the suspect MS was sent for examination.

 

The court ordered that they be detained for three days each. 

The suspects, who have been detained since April 14, were brought to Kyrenia District Court again on Thursday May 9.

Police presented the blood-curdling messages on the mobile phone of the suspects and the complainant from the day of the incident to the court. The victim had asked her friends for help via text message.

In the blood-curdling messages, the victim asked for help from her two friends between 5.22 and 6.07am, and posted the location.

Police said the victim to her friend Y., "I'm so bad, you can take me away from here, I'm so bad, "Come and get me, please take me". 

Police said the suspects exchanged messages among themselves at home and took video footage.

Police said they detected a message saying "I'm scared, take me from here." 

 

Explaining that there is a 27-second video recording of the suspects beating the young girl with a belt, police stated that if the suspects are released, there is a possibility that they will escape since they have no legal ties in the country, and requested that they be detained until trial.

 

The judge who pointed out the seriousness of the incident and mentioned the possibility of the suspects escaping from trial decided that the suspects should be sent to the Central Prison for a period not exceeding 35 days, in order to ensure their presence in their future cases.