(03/130) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Gendarmerie Station in Van
It is learned from the news coverage of March 10, 2021, a woman, Fethiye Çakmak who was in the bus from Hakkari to Batman that was stopped at the check point outside of Balaban Gendarmerie Station in Gevaş district of Van, was subjected to strip search at the gendarmerie station where she was taken after criminal record check.

Fethiye Çakmak stated the following: “They wanted to see my handbag after they made us got off the bus. I said ‘I cannot open my handbag; I have personal belongings in it’. And upon them insist, I threw everything in the bag out and said ‘now take and look in it’. They called a female village guard after checking my handbag. The village guard took me to a room, and strip searched me. I was subjected to it although I rejected. When I asked for any legal basis, they said ‘shut up’ to me.”

(03/131) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 10, 2021 that, Kemal Gömi, a prisoner in Istanbul Metris R Type Prison was subjected to physical attack of another prisoner in the outdoor area. It is reported that the Forensic Medicine Institution has given a report diagnosing Kemal Gömi with schizophrenia and stating that he could not be kept in prison. It is learned that after the attack, 2-hours of outdoor time for Kemal Gömi was reduced to 1 hour and he was not allowed to see his lawyer.

It is learned from the news coverage of March 10, 2021 that, Gökhan Gündüz, a prisoner in Kırıkkale F Type Prison was transferred to Izmir Kırıklar F Type Prison No 2 under coercion.

(03/088) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, prisoners in Maraş Türkoğlu Prison were subjected to physical violence of the correction officers; the prisoners who participated in the hunger strike to demand an end to isolation of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan were put in solitary cells and were not given water.

(03/066) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, 3 prisoners (Yılmaz Ay, İsmail Göçeri and Cengiz Akkaya) who rejected to stand up during roll-calls were subjected to verbal and physical violence of the correction officers in Isparta E Type Prison.

It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, 3 prisoners (Deniz Şah, Latif Mollaahmetoğlu, İlhan Kaya) were transferred from Bolu F Type Prison to Izmir Kırıklar F Type Prison No 1 under coercion on March 2, 2021.

It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, the heating was not working enough and the water given to prisoners was limited in Mersin Tarsus Women’s Prison.

(03/046) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 3, 2021 that, prisoners who react against the correction officers who scatter their personal belongings during ward searches in Batman High Security Prison were subjected to physical violence of the correction officers.

(03/005) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of February 28, 2021 that, 5 prisoners who were transferred from Kayseri Bünyan T Type Prison No 2 to Malatya Akçadağ T Type Prison under coercion on February 20, 2021, were subjected to physical violence of the correction officers for rejecting strip search at the entrance of prison.

January 2021

Source: https://en.tihv.org.tr/

Torture and Ill-Treatment in Police Interventions to Protests in Istanbul
It is learned that the people who were detained in police interventions against protests of police interventions against protests in Boğaziçi University in Istanbul on February 2, 2021, were subjected to physical and verbal violence of the police during interventions and under custody; and that at least 1 woman was subjected to sexual abuse. It is also learned that 1 journalist was injured at face by a rubber bullet fired by the police.

One of the detainees, K. Ç, stated the following on physical violence and sexual abuse: “There were 4 riot police officers behind me. Somebody squeezed my bottom while I was encircled. I turned back as I noticed, and I saw these 4 riot police officers behind me, and I reacted against them, telling to move away. (…) While they were putting me in the detention car, my right arm was twisted and I was dragged then I was pushed to the detention car, facing down on it. At that moment, the police officer who was holding my right arm, pushed his leg on my genitals and tried to handcuff me behind my back. A female friend by me reacted against him and told him to get his leg back. I was handcuffed behind my back and put in the detention car.”

Another detainee E. E., stated the following: “We were attacked on a busy street so many of us were in danger of being hit by the cars. While they were detaining us, at least 10 police officers were swooping down on per person. As a result, one of our friend has a fracture in foot, one has dislocated jaw and another one has head trauma because of being beaten.”

Şeyma Çopur stated the following: “We were waiting at the bus stop while we were faced with violence of the police. There were no warnings, the police chief ran to us, pushed one of our friend, saying ‘look down’. We were detained immediately. (…) They handcuffed all of us behind our backs. We were harassed both physically and verbally, they cursed at us a lot. They said, ‘We are the state, do you know what we can do here?’. They squeezed testicles of our male friends. We were still in handcuffs behind our backs under custody. One of our friend were suffering from serious bruises on the wrist but they did not loosen the handcuffs. The police officers dislocated one friend’s jaw. We were beaten in the detention car, I have crushes and bruises on my body.”

Batuhan Çotur stated the following: “The police verbally harassed and committed physical violence while they were detaining us. They punched us and dragged on the floor. They used handcuffs behind our backs and put us in the detention car. Verbal harassment and physical torture continued in the detention car as well.”

Rıdvan Gezer stated the following: “The police tried to handcuff us behind our backs while they were detaining us. Then they failed to handcuff us and tried to take off our face masks, pushed us and dragged to the detention car. Many of our friends were kicked and punched at these moments. I was put in the car without handcuffs so they dragged me out of the car, and tortured me to put handcuffs. Then I was taken to another car, a police officer came behind me and started to punch me. And he brought another friend of mine, and pushed him on my body, then he took a club from the car and started to hit both of us. I was in handcuffs behind my back so I could not cover my head, he hit my head at least twice with the club.”

Elif Üçerli stated the following: “We were detained around 16.30, and were kept in the detention car until 5 a.m. in the ne next morning. This was itself a form of torture. They continuously beat us; I still have pain in my shoulders. I suffered from high blood tension for a long time in there. They tried to seize our phones without any record.”

Tanya Kara stated the following: “They detained us with torture. We were walking on the street while they have detained us. They dragged our friends on the ground, they forced us to lay down on the ground and handcuffed us behind our backs. There were four or five police officers stepping onto us. Some of our friends are severely beaten at the head. They insulted us, and threatened us saying ‘Do not forget our faces’. They were especially rough on women. They pulled their hair, and kicked them on the ground while detaining. A friend of us who was detained in Bebek, was kicked at her vagina.”

Caner Delisu stated the following: “They brought a baton in the detention car and hit one of our friend with it, even at the head. They were threatening us, saying ‘We will finish you’. They kicked our head to the car when we rejected being handcuffed behind our backs. They did this in front of the hospital. When we reacted, they went in and started to insult us, they said ‘You are terrorists’. They kicked my leg just before I went into the doctor’s room”.

(02/039) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Police Interventions to Protests in Izmir
It is learned that the people who were detained in police interventions against press declarations to protest police interventions to protests in Boğaziçi University and to protests discrimination against LGBTIQs in Izmir on February 2, 2021, were subjected to torture and ill-treatment of the police during interventions and under custody.

One of the detainees, Berke Avcı, stated the following: “There were 7 or 8 police officers coming onto me and they started to pull me, one of them hit my head with the police wireless when they could not make me fall down, and the wireless broke into pieces. Then the number of police officers raised, and they forced me to lay down on the ground. I was resisting while they were pulling my hands towards my back to handcuff me. One of the police officers started to kick my stomach while the other was kicking my head. I was trying to lift my body and a police officer stepped on my head, and stayed on my head on one leg for a while. Then they pushed me back to the ground, a police officer stepped on my hand this time. Then I noticed that the police officers were pushing harder to handcuff me behind my back so that they were about to break my hand, I let them to take my hands towards my back. I was wearing a coat and a rucksack so they could not fasten the cable tie. This made them to force my hand further. (…) I saw that many of my friends in the detention car were in handcuffs behind their backs and they were being beaten by the police pulling their hair, sitting on them and kicking them.”

Zilan Tayboğa stated the following: “I was handcuffed behind my back while being detained. A male police officer pushed his knee on my back, another one pulled my hair and hit my head to the ground which split my lip open and bleed. (…) They continued to beat us in the detention car.”