‘I was battered by neighborhood guards, I was almost arrested while I was the victim’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Sedat Aşhin, a shopkeeper working in Bostanlı, İzmir, was stopped by neighborhood guards the other night. The guards asked his ID, battered and took him into custody. Speaking to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) about the incident, he says that he will file a complaint against the guards.

'They handcuffed me behind my back'

While Aşhin left his market in Bostanlı and was walking towards the seaside, he was intercepted by four neighborhood guards for an identity check:

"I did not have my ID with me at that moment. I told the guards that I had left my ID at the market and said, 'It is very close to here, let me go and take it.' But they did not believe me. 'You also escaped yesterday when you saw us,' they told me and swooped down on me.

"They sprayed pepper gas in my eyes. They inflicted violence and took me to their official vehicle. Then, they brought me to the Bostanlı Police Station. When we got to the station, I had just started breathing normally.

"'What did I do to you? Why are you doing this to me,' I shouted. Four neighborhood guards swooped down on me again and inflicted violence on me while they were handcuffing me behind my back.

"The police commander and other officers did not do anything even though I asked for help. They turned their backs."

* Photo: MA

'No one has safety of life in this country'

Ahşin says that he received a medical report documenting the signs of trauma on his body. According to Ahşin, when he was taken to the prosecutor's office, he was charged with "hindering the duty of law enforcement" and referred to court with a request for his arrest:

"I am innocent. They inflicted violence on me even though I did not do anything that would hinder their ID check or duties.

"As if the violence was not enough, I was almost arrested. While I was the victim, I became a defendant. We see that, in this country, people do not have even life safety. I did not experience something like that before. Now, I am worried that I will go through something like that again.

"The things done to me have got me mentally depressed. I will not give up on this case so that the guards will not use violence on anyone again."

'A security problem caused by neighborhood guards'

Barış Işık, the attorney of Aşhin, also briefly said the following about the issue: "This controversial law passed the Parliament despite all warnings and incidents of violence. They want the law to operate by employing people with insufficient education and awareness as neighood guards.

CLICK - Parliament Authorizes Neighborhood Guards to Detain Suspects, Carry Firearms

"But what is operated here is not the law, but violence. Women, children, young people, the aged... Everyone in the neighborhoods is having a problem of security. We will open all legal proceedings into this incident. But this law needs to be amended as soon as possible in such a way to ensure that it encompasses human rights and freedoms." (RT/SD)