Conscientious Objector Taken to Hospital
Bal, who was in the 6th army corps military prison in the province of Adana, was taken to a military hospital in Ankara. And from there, he was sent off to the Gulhane military medical academy for a medical examination.
Two separate trials
It is expected that there will be two separate cases against Bal, with charges of "disobedience," and "alienating people from military service". The second case was presented to the General Staff as a file.
Lawyers explain
Bal's lawyers Suna Coskun and Abdullah Ozturk, and lawyers Meric Tumer and Mustafa Cinkilic, who had visited Bal before, made a press statement after he was taken to hospital.
Applying to the international platform
Ender Buyukculha, the head of the Ankara branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD), organized a press conference in front of the association building to support Bal.
Mehmet Bal's lawyer Suna Coskun stressed that Bal had "made a conscious decision," and accounted for the torture and pressures Bal went through in prison. Coskun stated that the prison director Colonel Durdu Solak tortured Bal at the military prison. "We will take this case to international platform and to court," said Coskun.
First psychiatric examination, then prison
Besides accounting for the observations of the lawyers, Coskun also told Bal's story. According to the statement, here is what happened:
On October 24, 2002, Mehmet Bal told first-lieutenant Durmus Er in Mersin,that he was conscientiously rejecting to serve in the military. Bal told the same thing when he was taken to commander Haydar Kocaman. He also rejected wearing the military uniform and was detained the same day.
Bal was taken to the 6th army corps military court in the province of Adana on October. 25 After going through a psychiatric examination, Bal was arrested and taken to Adana 6th army corps military prison.
At the prison, Bal rejected wearing one-type clothing. Five or six prison attendants forcibly took Bal's clothes off, and made him wear the one-type clothing. Bal's hands were also cuffed at the back.
Shaving by force and hunger strike
Bal's statement about what happened later, are as follows:
* They ordered to have my hair shaved off. I refused. They first tried to shave my hair off by climbing on a chair. When they were unable to do that, they forced my to lye down on the floor. Five or six soldiers pushed down on my body, and one soldier pushed down on my head, while another shaved my hair off. Meanwhile, someone hit my left leg brutally four or five times, with a hard object. They put me in a cell that night, with my hands still cuffed at the back. There was another person in the cell. I wrote a petition telling them about my decision to start a hunger strike as of 9:00 p.m. on October 25, 2002, and listed my reasons. I handed the petition to guard master-sergeant Selim Kopar.
* I was kept in the cell for four days with the handcuffs on. After four days, on October 30, 2002, they forced me to wear my uniform and took me out for the counting. I was still handcuffed. The prison director Colonel Durdu Solak came and ordered me to stand at attention. I didn't accept. Colonel Solak kicked my leg twice. One of those kicks was to my left ankle. As a result of this very hard kick, I had an injury of 10-12 centimeters on my leg.
Cuffing feet and fetters
* The colonel ordered them to cuff my feet. The cuffs on my feet were very tight and hindered blood-flow. My legs started blackening. As a result, Colonel Durdu Solak ordered them to take the cuffs off and make a special fetter for me.
* On November 1, 2002, the put me in fetters made of old iron. They put me in fetters every time I leave my cell to visit the doctor, see my lawyers or go to counting.
* Colonel Solak orders me to put my feet together and stand at attention every time he has me brought to him. I never accept to do that. The colonel forces my feet together and padlocks the hoops of the chain of the fetters so that I stand in the position of attention. You can see the injuries on my ankles caused by the fetters.
* Starting on October 25, 2002, they never took my handcuffs off for 11 straight days, except the times I had to go to the bathroom. In the last three or four days, they have been taking the handcuffs off when I am in my cell.
* I am not taken outside except for 15 minutes every morning at 7:45 a.m.for the counting.
* I was able to shower only once in 15 days. (There is no warm water. They say the heating installation is broken.)
* Because I did not have money during the first days of my hunger strike, they did not give me sugar or sugared water. I was only able to get sugar with the help of the prisoners kept in the cell next to mine. They give me four sugar cubes for the cost of a tea.
* Before I came to meet you, I was taken to a medical examination with my handcuffs and fetters. They took off the fetters and weighed me. They told me I weighed 45 kilograms.
* After I was weighed, they put the fetters back on for my meeting with the lawyers. But the doctors who examined me said, "don't take him to his lawyers with the fetters on." And so they took the fetters off before I came here. But they put them back on when I go back. (BB/NK/EA/NM)