Inspectors Ignore The Medical Reports In The Torture Investigation

Lawyer Taylan Tanay indicated that the inspectors from the Ministry of Interior ignored the medical reports that showed  Engin Ceber was tortured at the Istinye Police Station.

According to NTV,  the two inspectors wrote in their report that they were not convinced Ceber was tortured at the Istinye Police Station.

However, the out-of-custody reports prepared by the Istinye State Hospital and later by Şişli Etfal Hospital for Özgür Karakaya, Cihan Gün and Aysu Baykal, who were taken into custody together with Ceber, had found various traces of violence on the bodies of the four activists.

Tanay also pointed out to a detail in Ceber’s report that stated it was necessary to determine the state of the swelling in Ceber’s head, requesting a brain scan.

Ceber was taken into custody with three of his friends at Istinye Station on September 28 for protesting that the police officer who shot and paralyzed Ferhat Gerçek was still not arrested. He was later arrested for “resisting police,” put into Metris Prison and died in the Şişli Etfal Hopital he was taken to after he went to coma on October 10. His friends Cihan Gün and Özgür Karakaya, with whom he was taken into custody, had told Bakırköy prosecutor Cevdet Doğan in detail that they were tortured both in the police centers and Metris Prison.

Tanay: It is not a serious investigation

Claiming that the report by the inspectors show that they did not conduct a serious investigation, Tanay pointed out to the following points, in addition to the fact that the medical reports were ignored:

Those tortured were not allowed to meet with their lawyers: “In a serious investigation, one first hears the allegation and then investigates. They did not meet with Karakaya, Gün and Baykal. They did not meet with their lawyers. But the inspectors from the Ministry of Justice had done these. This investigation, which was done without these steps, give the impression that it was done as a showpiece.”

The prosecutor takes the statements of the police officers one more time: “After it was realized that the statements of police officers were taken using the copy-paste method, the Sarıyer Prosecutor decided to take new statements. But the investigation of the inspectors used the old statements that are declared invalid by the prosecutor."

Gökçer Tahincioğlu of daily Milliyet had written on October 17 that the statements of the 19 police officers were exactly the same length, had the same sentences and even the same mistakes. The expression of “korsan gösteri” (illegal demonstration) had appeared in the form of “karsan gösteri” in all of them.

Ministry of Interior: The news reports are not correct

On the other hand, today the Ministry of Interior announced that the inspectors were still working and they were going to submit their report not to the Head Office of the Police Department, but to the Ministry. He added that the news reports were not correct. (TK/TB)