A brutal Turkish sex cult leader who was jailed last month for over 1,000 years after being convicted of rape and child abuse is appealing his sentence on religious grounds.
The Istanbul Regional Court of Justice has jailed 14 defendants including the disgraced preacher for 9,803 years in total, with a further 80 defendants all jailed for between three to 36 years each.
And investigators have stated that they are still at work and that further charges could still be brought.
Adnan Oktar, 64, who made headlines around the world, even forced a female cult member to undergo a nose job without anaesthetic. He was originally arrested in July 2018 along with 176 other people.
The disgraced preacher was jailed for 1,075 years in January after he was found to have been brainwashing his followers for decades while living the high life in the company of female devotees whom he called his “kittens”.
He was found guilty of being the leader of a criminal organisation, blackmail, sexually abusing minors, sexual abuse, rape, fraud, political and military espionage, and inflicting torment.
The court heard from victims how they were raped on camera and were forced to take birth control afterwards.
There was even reportedly a leaderboard where the rapes were recorded, and investigators found approximately 70,000 birth-control pills when they raided the disgraced preacher’s home.
He claimed that they were used to treat skin disorders and mental health issues, and now the convicted rapist is appealing his sentence on religious grounds, claiming: “We are a religious people.”
But a lawyer for the victims named as Andac Maraslioglu appears to have anticipated this move and prepared a booklet he submitted to the court of appeal, which reportedly contains photographs illustrating the depravity to which the cult leader subjected his followers.
Maraslioglu described the defendant’s appeal by saying: “The Adnan Oktar Armed Crime Organisation is submitting daily petitions to the case being heard at the Istanbul Court of Appeals and saying ‘We are a very religious, nationalist and devout people who live in accordance with Turkish customs and traditions. Adnan Oktar is a world-class writer interested in science and wisdom.'”
Maraslioglu added: “Almost all of the pictures, in which women were subjected to all kinds of perversions and nudity and were used as sexual objects, were taken at Adnan Oktar’s house. I wanted to show that they led a life in direct opposition to the defendant’s appeal.”
He said that he has emphasised in his petition that the “discourse of love and peace is actually entirely about deceiving and manipulating people”.
