After a two-year legal battle, lawyer Murat Çelik filed a lawsuit against five police officers who had detained him with his hands cuffed behind his back and used violence against him during the Saturday Mothers/Human Rights action on July 8, 2023.
At Galatasaray Square, the Saturday Mothers/Human Rights group—who gather weekly to demand accountability for relatives who disappeared while in custody—were present for their 954th week.
The Constitutional Court (AYM) previously ruled, in its decision regarding the 700th week, which fell on August 25, 2018, that police violence against the Saturday Mothers/Human Rights group violated their right to hold meetings and demonstrations.
Despite the AYM ruling, the group had been repeatedly prevented from making statements for weeks, and they were at Galatasaray Square once again to exercise their legal rights.
Before the demonstration began, police—acting under instructions from then-Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu—intervened while the group was still on İstiklal Street. They surrounded the Saturday Mothers/Human Rights participants and their supporters, attempting to detain them, and also blocked journalists.
As a result, 31 relatives of the disappeared and human rights defenders who had come to support them were taken into custody. Among those detained was lawyer Murat Çelik, a former member of the Istanbul Bar Association’s board.
He objected to being handcuffed behind his back and was assaulted
While being placed on the police transport bus, Çelik objected to having plastic handcuffs applied and asked the officers for a legal justification. In response, the police assaulted Çelik and applied handcuffs behind his back.
After being held on the bus for approximately three hours, those in custody were taken for a medical examination. The initial examination found signs of assault on Çelik’s body and head, bruising around his left eye, scratch marks on both hands, and bruises caused by the handcuffs.
In his statement at the police station, Çelik said, “I am filing a complaint against the police and their superiors for the assault and battery committed against me. This is the proper action that must be taken.” However, no ex officio investigation was initiated at that time. Çelik was released later that day around 9:00 p.m.
🔴Murat Çelik’in, Cumartesi Anneleri'nin eyleminde darbedilmesine ilişkin iki yıllık hukuk mücadelesi sonuç verdi.
— bianet (@bianet_org) October 7, 2025
👉 İkisi amir beş polis “zor kullanma yetkisini aşmak” ve “kasten yaralama” suçlarından yargılanacak.@HikmetAdal’ın haberihttps://t.co/zc7HxG7dGq pic.twitter.com/JFRuAi8Cpa
Reaction from TBB and Bar Association’s Criminal Complaint
On the day of the incident, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) issued a statement regarding lawyers Murat Çelik, Eren Keskin, and Oya Ersoy, who had been detained during the Saturday Mothers/Human Rights defenders’ demonstration.
“We do not accept the illegal intervention against the Saturday Mothers/Human Rights defenders and the torture inflicted on our colleagues who protested this unlawfulness,” the TBB said, adding: “Equally grave is the intolerant and violent response to this peaceful demonstration, which has been held for 954 weeks by people seeking their missing loved ones, in violation of the Constitution and international treaties.”
Two days later, on July 10, 2023, the Istanbul Bar Association filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office requesting an investigation into the police officers who had assaulted Murat Çelik, charging them with torture and intentional injury.
On July 13, Çelik’s defense lawyers submitted a detailed petition to the prosecutor’s office stating:
“Even in the most basic rule-of-law state, it is only natural to expect and demand that public authority comply with court decisions. According to the Constitution still in force, decisions of the Constitutional Court (AYM) are binding on all institutions and authorities. Persistently obstructing an activity recognized by the AYM as a ‘democratic right,’ detaining people even when meetings could not be held, and forcibly handcuffing a lawyer without any legal basis as a display of power and punishment has no legal or logical foundation. It is the duty of lawyers to remind authorities of this wherever they are, and they will continue to do so. Beating and torturing a lawyer for objecting to this arbitrariness has no ethical, moral, or legal justification.”
The defense lawyers requested that an investigation be opened against the police officers on charges of torture, intentional injury, insult, and threat.
Investigation process
Following the complaints, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Department of Public Official Crimes, initiated an investigation the same month. They requested camera footage and witness investigations from the police. However, the police submitted incomplete camera records.
On October 10, 2023, a report from the Forensic Medicine Institute was added to the case, confirming the signs of assault. Forensic experts noted that the injuries were of a nature that could not be treated with simple medical intervention.
Subsequently, the medical evaluation report from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) would document 32 findings during a detailed skin examination.
Awarded compensation
Meanwhile, the prosecutor’s office closed the investigation into the 31 people detained during the demonstration with a “no grounds for prosecution” decision. The investigation opened against Murat Çelik on charges of resisting was also dropped.
Following this, Çelik filed a lawsuit for “unlawful protective measures” with the Bakırköy 4th High Criminal Court. On January 25, 2024, the court ruled that Çelik’s freedom had been restricted for approximately eight hours and awarded both material and moral compensation. The appellate court later adjusted the compensation amount but confirmed the first-instance court’s ruling.
Police claim Çelik threw himself to the ground
Five months after this initial victory, in May 2024, the prosecutor’s office identified those involved in the incident. Commissioner Ali H. and İlhan Ç., along with officers Burak Mehmet Ç., Fatih A., and Zahir K., were summoned for statements. Their testimonies were similar, with some sections even appearing copied.
Commissioner Ali H. claimed that, contrary to the camera footage, Murat Çelik had attacked him. İlhan Ç. said he used force because Çelik resisted. However, both commissioners’ accounts of subsequent events were identical. They stated that Çelik’s friends had filmed the police operation with their phones for sensational purposes and that Çelik had intentionally thrown himself to the ground to put the police in a difficult situation:
“The individual tried to throw himself to the ground in a planned manner to put the police in a difficult situation.”
Officer Zahir K. similarly claimed that Çelik attacked the police and provoked them by resisting. He stated he acted using the authority granted by law to carry out the detention but also appeared to admit to using excessive force:
“When the individual refused to be handcuffed, my colleagues intervened. During this, he fell to the ground while I was attempting to apply the handcuffs. As force was being used, other officers came to assist, and during the scuffle, I was apart from the individual.”
Officers Fatih A. and Burak Mehmet Ç. said they were on the detention bus and did not intervene with Çelik, taking him to a hospital for a medical check afterward.
Third expert report
Çelik’s lawyers submitted petitions to the prosecutor’s office at least three times requesting that both their client and witnesses be heard. However, the prosecutor’s office had not yet interviewed Çelik or the witnesses.
The lawyers also requested that the prosecutor’s office obtain the missing camera footage from the police. On September 26, 2024, the prosecutor requested additional recordings from the police. However, the police could not locate the footage. On October 14, the on-duty bureau chief recorded in a report: “No camera footage for the mentioned date has been provided to us, so no record could be found.”
The third and final expert report, unlike previous reports, documented that Çelik had been pushed, forced to the ground, and had pressure applied to his head. Following this report, Çelik’s lawyers submitted another petition to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, stating that there was more than enough evidence to file a case. They requested that a public lawsuit be opened against the identified police officers and their superiors for torture, ill-treatment, insult, and deprivation of liberty.
Prosecutor files indictment
On April 15, 2025, the prosecutor completed the indictment. Commissioners İlhan Ç. and Ali H., and officers Burak Mehmet Ç., Fatih A., and Zahir K. were formally charged.
The prosecutor accused the police officers of “exceeding the limits of authority to use force (Turkish Penal Code 256)” and “intentional injury (TPC 86)” and requested sentences ranging from two years and three months to four years and six months.
The Istanbul 62nd Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment. The defendant police officers are scheduled to appear before the judge on October 9, 2025, at 10:50 a.m. (HA/MH)
