Two women arrested for aborting pregnancy ilegally in Famagusta, given 45 days prison sentence, Lawyer speaks on night club forced prostitution

Lawyer representing two African women who were taken to court for committing abortion said his clients was forced into prostitution during the pandemic and when she refused, she was battered.

The revelation was made known during a hearing on the illegal child abortion case at the Famagusta High court last week where ugly details about night clubs in the country were revealed which prompted the court to order an investigation into night clubs in the country.

The subject at the center of investigation, are 29-year-old Mercy, (not real name) who worked as a consultant at a night club operating in Mutluyaka. She was arrested in May and taken to court for aborting her pregnancy illegally by taking abortion pills while she was pregnant with a 5-month old baby boy and her friend, Ruth (not real name) from Cameroon who provided the pills in question.

After considering all factors and the days they have spent in detention, the judge sentenced both Mercy and Ruth to 45 days in prison for the offences committed (committing abortion outside the rules of the law).  The judge noted that such a case was punishable with up to 7 years in prison.

Before their sentencing, their lawyer, Ramadan Sanivar made some striking allegations in court. 

According to him, Mercy came to the TRNC on February, 26, 2020 and got a job as a waitress and dishwasher at the Antique Night Club, thanks to a girl she met on social media.

But she began working as consomatist instead of being a waitress and dishwasher at the club where she was later forced into prostitution as she claims.

He said his client was beaten when she objected and when she wanted to leave, she was told that she has a debt of 17,500TL for no reason and must be paid before she leaves.

She called the police for help on the issue but could not express herself because of language barrier and had to endure the situation that befell her.

Ramadan pointed that although, the workplace was closed during the pandemic period, customers were secretly admitted and that the defendant was forced to perform uncontrolled prostitution despite the lack of hospital visit. 

He said his client who fled her country after being raped by her uncle, got pregnant as a result of the forced prostitution and was told to take care of herself after which which was taken to a clinic where she was told to terminate the 20-week-old pregnancy for 20,000TL.

The defendant was forced to commit the crime because she did not have the financial means.

His client demanded an order to open an investigation against the night club for forced prostitution and trafficking.

The court in it's decision based on these facts, noted that the defendant was desperately left at the mercy of the night club officials. It also emphasized the mental traumas that occur in women who are forced to give birth by the law after getting pregnant as a result of rape to be a known fact.

The court judge having read the verdict declared that at this stage, it was a necessity that the allegations conveyed by the defendant's lawyer to the court be taken seriously and examined by the authorities of the state and the police.

She also instructed the police to immediately investigate the owner and operator of the night club and it's executives and report the out come of the investigation to the court within two weeks.

Before the verdict, Ramadan told the court that the defendant who was born in Kenya had a 66-year-old mother with heart disease and two siblings, one of whom was a younger girl and had to struggle due to financial difficulties after their father died in 2019. 

Her uncle who took the family with him in order to support them after her father's death raped her by force. She had to look for a solution by finding a job when she was told she could work in Cyprus as a waitress and dishwasher at the club by someone she met on social media.