Torture against suspects in custody has become systematic, Diyarbakır NGOs warn

Duvar English

The Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır branch and the Diyarbakır Bar Association have prepared a report concering claims of torture regarding people taken into custody during an operation on December 8 in the villages of Çakırtutmaz and Kılıçkaya in the Diyarbakır district of Çınar. In the report, the associations have requested that those who carried out the torture and the authorities who turned a blind eye to it be investigated, and that a criminal case regarding the matter be filed. 

According to Diyarbakır Bar Association President Cihan Aydın, torture, maltreatment and degrading practices used against those being taken into custody have become systematic as of late, and described what took place in the villages earlier this month, saying that the Diyarbakır İHD branch and the bar association went to the investigate the claims, and were prevented by soldiers from reaching the area until they left following the villagers' reactions. 

“In the following days, meetings were held between lawyers and the suspects taken into custody. One of the people taken into custody and tortured was [previously] partially disabled. One person with the initials A.E. was taken into custody while working in a field, and according to his own statement and his lawyers observations, was tortured for hours. There were heavy traces of beatings in A.E.'s face, eyes and ears, and he was not given pain medication despite experiencing intense pain in his ears, and though an ambulance was requested by his lawyer, he was not taken to the hospital. Also, it was determined by a doctor during a judicial medical report that two of his ribs were broken,” Aydın said. 

Diyarbakır İHD board member Hasan Yalçın relayed the statement of one person whose whom was raided in the village of Kılıçkaya: “They raided our home in the early hours of the morning.  They knocked on the door, and as soon as I opened it they made my son and I lay down on the floor. They hit the door with a sledgehammer. They stepped on my head and my son's head. They continuously picked my son up and sat him back down and punched him. They smashed him against the wall. I thought they were going to kill my son. They beat him for hours. While two people beat my son the others searched every part of the house. They acted barbarically. They weren't people,” said the mother of L.Ç, one of the suspects taken into custody. 

Child threatened by death five years old

Yalçın also read the statement of the wife of İ.Ç., another suspect in question:

“I was the first to open the door. My daughter told me there were police approaching. I opened the door without them knocking. Three people descended upon me. They asked about my husband. I said that he was home. They put my hands against the car. They took the women to one side. They started beat my son. We all went toward him to protect them but they wouldn't allow it. They put him on the ground and handcuffed him behind his back. At that point my husband came out, and they put him on the ground and started to beat him. When one one my daughters went to go get her younger sister who was sleeping inside, they pointed their guns at her and said 'we'll shoot you' and didn't give her permission. My child that they threatened to kill is five years old,” said İ.Ç.'s wife.