Five given life sentences for 'breaking windows of AKP building'

Photo: AA/File

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Five people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in relation to an attack on a building of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the southeastern Urfa province.

No one was hurt while the windows of the AKP district building in Eyübiye were broken in the 2015 incident that was reported as a "bomb attack" in the media.

Five people, including a woman, stood trial for the attack.

The woman, S.Ç., was caught after being shot in the waist by police officers after the attack. Four others, S.K., S.A., R.Ç. and V.D., were detained later.

Put on trial for several offenses, including acting against the unity of the country, all five defendants said they had been tortured by the police and rejected the testimonies they had given at the security directorate.

"Tortures and threats"

S.Ç. said that she didn't previously know the other defendants and claimed that police officers who shot her stepped on her wounds.

"Although I was injured in the waist, it is written in the file that I was injured in the foot. I was kept waiting three-four hours in the police vehicle with injuries.

"I was unconscious, they took me to the hospital four hours later. In the hospital, five-six police officers stood there with me. They were pulling my hair and slapping me. I was taken to surgery. Police officers were waiting there after the surgery.

"I stayed in the hospital for 17 days. During these 17 days, they threatened me with my family. They didn't allow my family to visit me. The police officers wanted me to be their spy."

Threats and torture continued after she was discharged from the hospital and taken to the anti-terror department, she said. "They treated me inhumanely. I was in a difficult situation. I couldn't even stand. While I was in this state, they didn't everything to me."

S.K. said police officers who raided his home put a bag on his head and took him to the anti-terror department while beating him on the road. "They tortured us terribly for four days. Because there was a camera downstairs, they took us upstairs and tortured us in a dark room."

R.Ç. and V.D. also said that they had given their testimonies under torture. S.A. said he had nothing to do with the incident.

The verdict

On February 13, 2020, the Urfa 2nd Heavy Penal Court sentenced all five defendants to life imprisonment for "disrupting the unity of the state and the integrity of the country," "attempting to kill a person because of their public duty by using bomba or nuclear, biological or chemical weapons," "unpermitted possession of dangerous substances," "propagandizing for and illegal organization."

Attorneys of the defendants have brought the case to the Court of Cassation after the verdict was upheld by an appeals court. (AS/VK)