Rojin Kabaiş Investigation: Prosecutor must open a sexual assault case 

2025-10-12 11:33:15


	AMED – Following the release of a one-page, two-line forensic report, attorney Cansel Talay, representing the family of Rojin Kabaiş, stated that the findings clearly justify the opening of a sexual assault case. “All the evidence is there, the prosecutor must treat it as such,” she said.

	Rojin Kabaiş, a first-year student in the Child Development Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, died under suspicious circumstances more than a year ago. 

	 

	The long-awaited Forensic Medicine Institution (ATK) report has now been added to the case file. Lawyers say the new findings raise serious indications of sexual assault.

	 

	According to the report, sent by the ATK’s Biological Expertise Department on October 10, two separate DNA samples were identified, one from the sternal (chest) area and another from the inner vaginal region.

	 

	

	 

	Speaking to the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Amed (Diyarbakır) Bar Association Women’s Rights Commission member Cansel Talay criticized the report’s brevity and lack of clarity: “The report does not specify what type of biological material the DNA comes from. It’s just one page, two lines long. We waited over nine months for this. Only after we filed a criminal complaint against ATK did we receive it.”

	 

	Cansel Talay stressed that the report should prompt prosecutors to investigate the case as sexual assault: “From the beginning, we said this could be murder, sexual assault, or an intentional killing. If the Istanbul Convention had been implemented and women’s organizations allowed to participate, the truth might already have been uncovered.”

	 

	She described widespread institutional negligence surrounding Rojin Kabaiş’s death: “There’s no wall between the university and the nearby border village, no warning signs about rising water levels, and the dormitory’s camera angles and recording durations are inadequate. The university and the dorm administration bear serious responsibility. We’ve filed administrative complaints and will continue to press charges against everyone responsible.”

	 

	Cansel Talay said the legal team will request a more detailed DNA analysis and an expansion of the testing pool: “So far, samples were taken from just over 200 individuals, far too few given how many people were present where Rojin was last seen and found. Many camera records cover only 30 days. All possible evidence must be re-examined. Everything necessary for a sexual assault case is already present. The prosecutor must now open that file.”

	 

	MA / Fethi Balaman