"Lost" in Custody - Time-Barred in 9 Days

The Istanbul Prosecution decided to launch a preliminary investigation into the whereabouts of Hüseyin Toraman who disappeared in police custody 20 years ago. Istanbul Public Prosecutor Veysi Büyükkılıç accepted the related application for obtaining information about Toraman filed by Evren Özer from the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV). The preliminary investigation comes less than two weeks before the file will become time-barred on 27 October.

Toraman's mother Hatice and his older sister Sakine will join the weekly actions of the Saturday Mothers/People after 27 October.

TİHV representative Özer applied to the Prime Ministerial Communication Centre (BİMER) on 31 May this year. He drew attention to the risk that the unsolved murders committed in the early 1990's, cases of torture and disappearances in police custody were going to be time-barred soon. Özer asked for the fate of Toraman who disappeared in police custody on 27 October 1991.

BİMER sent the application to the Ministry of the Interior from where it was forwarded to the Ministry of Justice and the General Police Directorate. The Istanbul Public Chief Prosecution Preparation Office accepted the notification of Özer's statement and himself as a complainant. Özer was called to give a statement upon his application for information.

Özer gave his statement on Friday (14 October). He pointed to the fact that the procedures regarding the whereabouts of Hüseyin Toraman were going to be time-barred as of 27 October 2011. He gave this as the main reason for his application and emphasized that the investigation related to Toraman launched by the Fatih (Istanbul) Public Chief Prosecution in 1991 did not yield any results.

"I hoped that a step could be taken before the case becomes time-barred. Therefore I drew the prosecution's attention to the investigation in Fatih", Özer said in an interview with bianet. Lawyer Hülya Üçpınar highlighted that the statute of limitations could be stalled if an arrest warrant would be issued or if any other proceedings would be initiated based on the Fatih investigation.

"Of course my son was a revolutionist"

On 27 October 1991, Toraman left the house to go to the corner shop in the Kocamustafapaşa district of Istanbul. Three plainclothes police officers made Toraman enter a car with the plate 34 ATZ 56 right in front of the eyes of his wife and neighbours. All applications made by his family to the police remained without result. No information was received about Toraman ever since.

The investigation launched by Fatih Public Prosecutor Zafer Sercan Yetişir in 1991 did not reveal any results. An investigation was carried out by the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission. "It was concluded that Toraman who allegedly disappeared could not be found", the commission's report claimed.

Toraman's mother Hatice Toraman went to Germany after a four-year search for her son. At the weekly meeting of the Saturday Mothers/People on Galatasary Square (Istanbul) she recently announced, "Of course my son was a revolutionist but he never touched a weapon; he did not even hurt a bird's wing".

"I went to Parliament five times. I begged everybody", Hatice Toraman continued. "The police did not kill him alone. Needless to say the police killed him upon the order of senior police officers. I have been looking for my son for 20 years. I want his remains; I want his murderers". (AS/VK)