Police Guilty of Unregistered Detentions on May Day

It has emerged that two people, Naciye Kaplan and Öztürk Aladağ, who were both taken into police custody on 1 May, were not registered as detained by the police.

Lawyer Can Atalay told bianet that the police must keep records of anyone in detention.

Kaplan was photographed and filmed when she was beaten and then taken away by the police in Tarlabaşı, central Istanbul.

Beaten and detained, no records

According to the Radikal newspaper, Aladağ said that he had experienced police violence on 1 May and at the police station later. With a medical report describing bruising on his shoulder and forehead, he went to the Beyoğlu Chief Public Prosecution on 2 May to complain.

In her statement given on 8 May, Aladağ offered a picture of police officers taking her away. She was taken into custody in the same street as Kaplan.

Both of them say that they were hurt, as well as insulted, prior to the detention as well as at the police station.

Their files have been merged and four police officers are being tried.

At least 300 people in the same situation

According to the Istanbul Police Department and Governor Muammer Güler, 108 people were taken into custody on 1 May. However, bianet spoke to Taylan Tanay, president of the Contemporary Lawyers' Association (ÇHD), who says the real number is much higher.

He said that the association had found 300 cases of people who had been detained without being registered, and that 15 police stations had been involved. The people detained had been maltreated and beaten.

This is a clear violation of the procedure, according to which the following steps have to be taken:

* According to Atalay, the police has to write a report about the detained person on the scene, but this is generally done at the police station.

* Then the police (or gendarmerie in rural areas) has to inform the responsible prosecutor of the detention.

* Before a person is taken to a police station, they have to be examined in a hospital and given a medical report.

* Relatives of the person in custody as well as a lawyer must be informed. If there is no specific lawyer, the police must inform the Bar Association for a duty lawyer.

* The police then takes a statement. However, the detained person is only obliged to state their personal details and does not have to give a statement. They have the right to remain silent.

* The person in custody has the right to speak with their lawyer in private, in an area where no one else can listen or interfere.

* The person then has to be taken for another medical check.

* The final step is to take the person to the prosecutor, depending on whether it has been demanded.

Atalay added that a person in detention has 24-hour 7-day access to the Criminal Procedure Implementation Service, which is linked to the Bar Association in every city. The service has the right and the duty to intervene in detentions. (BÇ/AG)