Complaining Police Officers Could Not Be Questioned

Aysu Baykal, Cihan Gün and Özgür Karakaya are tried for "resistance to the police" and violation of the "Act on Meetings and Demonstrations" before the Sarıyer (Istanbul) 2nd Court of First Instance. All 3 defendants had been detained and tortured together with human rights activist Engin Çeber, who died in October 2008 from the torture he had been exposed to. In the hearing on 10 November, joint lawyer Oya Aslan did not get the chance to question the complaining police officers.

Aslan reported to bianet that police officers Halil İbrahim Sarıaslan, Abdülmuttalip Bozyel, Aliye Uçak and Mustafa Köse attended the hearing. However, when she required questioning them, the judge said "this hearing takes 40 minutes" and postponed the questioning to the subsequent hearing because of time reasons, Aslan explained.

The next hearing is scheduled for 23 February 2010.

Aslan argued, "The complainants are not obliged to attend the hearing. We do not know if they will come to the next session. Thus, we might not have the opportunity to question them at all".

Hearing crowded with civil police

Aslan told bianet that she objected against the large number of civil policemen present during the hearing, her objection was rejected though due to "reasons of security". Aslan criticized, "Until now there was no reason for security. Why in this hearing? If security is required, it is provided by uniformed police".

Detailed statements about experienced torture

Çeber, Baykal, Gün and Karakaya were arrested after a press release protesting that the police shooting of left-wing human rights activist Ferhat Gerçek, which resulted in his paralysis, has not been investigated or punished by the authorities. They were detained and imprisoned the following day. In the latest hearing Gün and Karakaya explained in detail how they had been tortured in the Şehit Muhsin Bodur police station and in Metris Prison.

As a result of the torture he experienced in prison, Çeber died on 10 November in the intensive care unit of the Şişli Etfal Hospital in Istanbul.

After the Forensic Medicine report proved evidence for torture, Turkey's Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Sahin accepted the torture allegations and apologized.

Footage had been published showing police officers kicking Çeber and his friends while they were sitting on the floor with handcuffs. (TK/VK)