A 29 Year Old Dies From Torture For Participating In A Press Release

Twenty-nine year old Engin Ceber died in the hospital where he was moved to after being tortured in the prison he was serving his sentence. The doctors were expecting him to die anytime.

Ceber’s lawyer Oya Aslan said they were going to have an autopsy to determine the details of the torture.

According to the information given by Aslan, to determine whether or not Ceber was tortured, a doctor from the Chamber of Doctors and a lawyer from the Istanbul Bar needed to be assigned to the procedure. The Human Rights Committee in the Parliament is also showing interest in the incident. Aslan said Deputy Çetin Soysal called them to get information about the incident. She says they want an effective and detailed investigation.

Baykal, Karakaya and Gün are still arrested

The Office of the Bakırköy Prosecutor had ruled for Ceber’s release. Aslan says te only good thing about this decision was Ceber’s family could see him at the hospital; he did not have to be arrested anyway.

On the other hand, Aysun Baykal, Özgür Karakaya and Cihan Gün, who were taken into custody together with Ceber after the press release on September 28 and later put in Metris Prison, are still in prison.  

Aslan: Baykal’s condition is critical

Aslan says Baykal needs to be in dialysis within a month due to her kidney problem, but she cannot even stand up because of the torture she received. Her condition is critical.

Aslan says she has asked for the release of her four clients twice. Her petition submitted on October 6 was rejected. Although her next petition on October 9 got Ceber out,  the release of the other three have been denied “because of the nature of the accusation and the incompletion of the evidence collection process.” 

According to Aslan, the reasons given by the authorities are not valid. The four people are accused of resisting arrest. She says even if a sentence comes out of this case, it will be at most two years and it is likely that it will be either postponed or converted to a fine.

The four people were taken into custody after the press release in Sarıyer, Istanbul on September 28 for the shooting of Ferhat Gerçek by the police. The People’s Law Bureau had announced that they were tortured both in İstinye station and the prison. 

Criminal report against torture

Aslan said they launched an investigation about the tortures. Yesterday,  Karakay and Gün gave their statements to Bakırköy prosecutor Cevdet Doğan. Aslan said that they filed criminal reports about the director of the prison, the doctors and the officers.(TK/TB)