Three Turkish police officers arrested for torturing child in southeastern Diyarbakır

Duvar English

Five Turkish police officers, including a commissioner, were on March 25 detained for torturing a 14-year-old child in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Lice district.

The detentions came as part of an investigation launched after the child known by the initials Y.D. was abducted and tortured by the police on March 21, according to reporting by the daily Evrensel.

Within the framework of the investigation, the child was summoned to the Lice Gendarmerie Command, according to information received from the child’s family. Here, in the presence of a prosecutor, the child identified the police officers that tortured him via photos. Afterwards, five police officers, including a commissioner, were detained.

The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office released a statement, saying that the child had been exposed to “battery” by the police. It also said that the police officers in question had been dismissed from duty and were facing an administrative investigation.

According to allegations, once the police officers in question abducted the child, they made him say that he was Turkish and not Kurdish. The officers allegedly threatened the child with death by telling him, “Insult Kurds and recite the Turkish National Anthem.”

The Lice Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the incident once Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) reported about the torture that left the child at risk of losing one eye.

The Diyarbakır Bar Association announced on March 26 that of the five police officers, three were arrested by a court order on charges of "deliberate injury" while two were released. 

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