hCa Condemns Refugee Death in Police Custody

After Nigerian refugee Festus Okey was killed at the police headquarters in Beyoglu, central Istanbul, the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (hCa) has called for authorities to react to police violence in Beyoglu. It has called for those responsible to be tried immediately.

Education for all police officers 

The hCa says that a trial is not enough, and that in order to prevent further cases, not only the police in the department for foreigners, but all police officers, needed to be educated on the rights of refugees and the procedures of seeking asylum.

In order to prevent the maltreatment of refugees by police, it called for permission for NGOs to access places where foreigners were held.

Frequent reports of police abuse

The hCa said that it frequently received information that African migrants and refugees were maltreated and abused by police in Beyoglu.

"According to the claims, generally plain-clothes police officers stop African-origin foreigners for ID controls or raid their homes and demand money. If this is not accepted, then the foreigners are threatened with imprisonment for the possession of drugs.

The hCa points out that if police maltreatment goes unpunished, this encourages an escalation, which finally led to Okey's death.

The Assembly has said that it would monitor the investigation into Okey's death and the trial closely.

Arrested on 20 August

According to an article in the Radikal newspaper, Festus Okey had come to Turkey two years ago as an illegal refugee. He was last seen when he was arrested in Tarlabasi, central Istanbul, with his friend M.O. It is claimed that when he was taken to the Beyoglu Police Department of Public Peace, he tried to take the gun of a police officer and that during the ensuing squabble a shot was fired and Okey died. The Beyoglu Public Prosecution is reporting this version of events.

Dream of Football 

A leader of the Nigerian refugees in Turkey who declined to give his name, said that 25-year-old Okey's journey to Turkey was typical. Called "Okute" by his friends, Okey had hoped to become a footballer. He had played trial matches in several amateur teams, but nothing had come of it.

At one point he had been caught and held at the Police Department for Foreigners for six months. He had been released one month ago, after he had applied to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in order to obtain official refugee status.

Now his body has been waiting in a morgue for the last ten days...His family do not know that their son has died.

Other refugees worried

Refugees are concerned about a death in a police station. Their leader said, "We have been beaten by the police and our money has been taken from us. But this is the first time that a friend of ours is killed. We wonder if there will be more..."

Okey's friend M.O. from Burundi, who is still being held at the Department for Foreigners, was visited by representatives of the Nigerian consulate. According to their information, the two friends were walking from Tarlabasi towards the Taksim First Aid Hospital on the evening of 20 August, when plain-clothes policemen stopped in a car next to them and searched them, claiming there had been a tip-off for drugs.

They arrested M.O. and Okey and took them to the Beyoglu Police Department of Public Peace. M.O. says that while Okey was taken up to the fifth floor, he was held on the first. M.O. says that he started hearing screams and then the sound of a gun. A policeman came to him and told him that his friend had died.

While police authorities have confirmed Okey's death, they are not giving any other details.

Violence in Beyoglu

This is not the first time that the Beyoglu police have made the headlines with violence. Transvestite Esmeray has been beaten when wanting to pass in front of the police station. Business man Sezai Yakar said that his nose and hand were broken. Journalist Sinan Tekpetek says that he was kidnapped, beaten and then thrown into the street in nearby Karaköy. Taxi driver Engin Topal said that he was beaten by the police when trying to run away from robbers.(IS/TK/AG)