405 Soldiers Charged with Rape and Torture
The trial begins on Friday. S.E. claims that she was detained three times in 1993 and 1994 and that she was tortured and raped every time. The trial began five years after she made an application.
According to prosecutor Yesim Dogan Kar's indictment, 405 soldiers, who, at the time worked in paramilitary police stations in Derik and Mazidagi, including some in senior positions, are charged with torture and rape.
She told it five years later
S.E., born in 1972, gave an account of what she went through for the first time in 1998 in Germany where she had to go because of the threats she received. She talked about the things she went through at a panel on "State Originated Sexual Violence Against Women."
She later spoke with lawyer Eren Keskin, who was a speaker on the panel, and the lawyer for "legal support for victims of rape under detention" project.
In September 14, 1998, Keskin applied to the prosecutor's office in Mardin with charges of torture and rape.
"My client, who was tortured every time she was detained, endured heavy torture and was raped many times, first with sticks and hands, and later through vaginal intercourse," Keskin wrote in her letter of application.
"My client was released without being referred to the prosecutor's office each time and was threatened to be killed."
After their application was rejected, lawyers Eren Keskin and Fatma Karakas went to a higher court.
In their letter of application, they included reports from the Izmir Treatment Center of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) and the International Berlin Torture and Rehabilitation Center, where S.E. underwent treatment.
The court took into account the reports by these institutions, which stated that S.E. underwent trauma compatible with what she said she went through. The court decided to open a trial in February 10, 1999.
After an investigation, by the prosecutor's office in Mardin, charged 405 soldiers with rape and torture.
Prosecutor Yesim Dogan Kar wrote in her indictment that S.E. was first detained in November 1993 in Caykoyu.
"During her detention, S.E. was stripped naked, her soles were beaten, she was given electric shocks, was put in a car tire and rolled, and was threatened to be killed. During the seven days of detention, she was raped twice by people she doesn't know because her eyes were covered. They raped her with sticks and with their hands. She was released before being referred to the prosecotor's office," Kar said.
The indictment continued with the later detentions:
"S.E. says was detained for the second time in March 1994 and kept for two weeks. She went through heavy torture. Her eyes were covered again, she was stripped naked and was raped through vaginal intercourse by security forces. She was taken to a hospital because of intense bleeding after the rapes. In September 1994, S.E. was detained for the third time as she was working on the field. She was beaten, tortured and taken to an empty house to be raped by an officer and two or three privates."
Witness: I had heard
The indictment said that Derik gendarme station and Mardin provincial gendarme commandership said S.E.'s name was not on their records from those years. The health institutions in Mardin did not have her name either.
Murat Karatas, who is one of the three witnesses, said he head heard of this incident, according to the indictment. Mehmet Yurdakul was present in the detention of S.E. but denied being there, the indictment said. The indictment asks the court that all 405 defendants are handed punishments in accordance with their crimes. The first hearing will be held on Friday, October 10.(EA/NM)