Torture in 'Disko' Case

Five soldiers, two of whom are detained, and the Prison Director, First Sergeant Ayhan Şentürk, are indicted for having caused the death of Uğur Kantar. Kantar was taken to the disciplinary ward (disko - derived from Turkish words for disciplinary ward "disiplin koğuşu") when he was doing his military service in Northern Cyprus.

On 25 July, he was exposed to severe torture that lead to his death 2.5 months later. He died in the intensive care unit of the Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) on 12 October. .

The Military Court of Girne (Northern Cyprus) accepted the indictment prepared by the Military Prosecution. The first hearing of the case is scheduled for 18 November 2011.

"Crime of aggravated torture"

The General Staff Presidency previously announced that Kantar's condition had worsened due to his epilepsy. Contrarily, the indictment puts forward that Kantar died of the result of strong physical violence applied by infantryman Ayhan Arslan and infantry sergeant Fırat Keser and due to having been exposed to the sun unprotected for a certain time.

The indictment claims that Arslan and Keser "committed the crime of aggravated torture by applying violence against Kantar several times; they did not allow him to meet his needs for water and to use the bathroom; especially on 25 July 2011 between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm they applied physical violence that resulted in loss of consciousness. After that, Kantar was left in the sun hand-cuffed and still unconscious; violence was applied to him at that stage too. They tried to prevent a medical intervention by wrongly stating that the victim was pretending and giving false information to the personnel who were going to take the victim".

Three soldiers turned blind eye to torture

Furthermore, the indictment alleges infantry privates Süleyman Özdoğan and Özkan Belmen and infantry corporal Ahmet Yurdusevdi of misconduct of office.

Özdoğan, Belmen and Yurdusevdi apparently denied permission to victim Kantar to drink water and use the bathroom between 18 and 25 July. According to the indictment, they stand accused of misconduct of office because they brought Kantar to suspects Ayhan Aslan and Fırat Keser several times because the victim "created trouble". They did not intervene against the torture applied by Keser and Arslan. They just watched and failed to inform the prison manager.

Prison Manager indicted as well

Also prison director Şentürk stands accused of misconduct in office because he did not allocate enough time to his duty and did not fulfil his duty of guarding the privates and their superiors. Discipline was exercised seldom during the time Uğur Kantar was the subject of investigation actions in particular. Hence the guards had opportunities to act without approval, the indictment puts forward.

"Trial might be handled by civil court"

Lawyer Teoman Özkan, joint attorney of the Kantar family, assessed the indictment for bianet. He said that the indictment met their demands in terms of how the crime was defined.

Under this aspect, Özkan said that he appreciated the indictment. However, charging only five soldiers and the prison director was insufficient, he criticized. Özkan argued that also the responsible superiors of the prison director should be prosecuted. (EKN/VK)