Relatives of Convicts File Complaint Against Police After Violent Response to Demo

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The mothers and relatives of the convicts have filed a complaint against the police officers who used violence against them in a demonstration on Friday (April 19).

Attorneys from the Libertarian Lawyers' Association (ÖHD) submitted a petition at the Gebze Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in the name of the women. Along with the police officers who battered the people on April 19 and April 21, the petition also requested the Governor and the Director of Security of Kocaeli be investigated and tried as they are the ones who "gave the orders."

The women tried to read a press statement and stage a sit-in in front of the Gebze Prison in the western province of Kocaeli to draw attention to the hunger strikes in prisons on Friday. In response, the police battered them.

The videos emerged after the incident show that the police officers are battering the women even when they are leaving the area.

Since October 2018, more than three thousand inmates in prisons across Turkey have joined a hunger strike in protest of the isolation on the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan.

CLICK - Peace Mothers Beaten, Dragged Across Ground for Holding Demos on Hunger Strikes

Ten charges against the police officers

Along with the petition of complaint, the attorneys submitted the medical reports the women received after the incident.

The petition directed the following charges against the police officers: intentional injury, tormenting, mistreatment and using force, exceeding the limit regarding the use of force, insult, misconduct, giving and obeying illegal orders, preventing the use of the freedom of expression, preventing the use of political and syndical rights.

The women whose names are included in the petition as complainants are Zeynep Bayar, Hanife Bayar, Elif Kulak, Zeynep Çalıhan, Erdihan Erol, Cemile Çiftçi, Türkiye Bozkurt, Hazal Taş, Fehime Ekmez, Hatice Söyler, Latife Buğday, Nuran İmir, Zübeyde İnce.

"The prosecutor should conduct the investigation"

The attorneys requested in the petition that an investigation should be opened immediately and it should be conducted independently and rapidly.

They also requested that the officials should not benefit from practices such as suspension from duty or suspension of the announcement of the verdict to "prevent these illegal acts to be tolerated."

"Otherwise, despite the big importance of the ban on inhumane and insulting treatment, this ban will be practically ineffective and in some situations and cause the public officials to benefit from impunity and violate the sufferers," the petition said.

The petition also requested the investigation be conducted by the prosecutor instead of the police. (AS/VK)