Ozturk: State is Protecting the Torturers
Lawyer Keles Ozturk said, "There is no change in the state's approach towards its basic institutions. Only some very brave judges ruled successfully against torture."
"The state is protecting its personnel"
Lawyer Ozturk said that the state protected its personnel who torture the oppositionists. Ozturk said:
* The state has basic institutions. The military and police are among those institutions.
* The military and police personnel are practically protected even if what they do is against the laws.
* As the state protects those personnel, the personnel think they are torturing, "those who oppose the state."
"Minimum punishment"
* The latest legal regulations are not enough. Most of the cases arising from torture and maltreatment result in acquittals.
* And rarely, defendants are handed the least possible punishment.
* The successful results directly arise from brave judges and prosecutors. And those brave judges and prosecutors are the minority.
* Because of those brave judges and prosecutors, the police officers that tortured Ibrahim Cicek and his friends were sentenced to prison. One of the judges Mehmet Uysal bravely had an opposition commentary yesterday.
* The state has no problem with torture.
"Torture continues"
* Torture is still a systematic way of interrogating in this country.
* I myself recorded at the Human Rights Association, the application on November 24, of children who claim they were tortured by the police after one of their friends was killed. The drunken police officers mistakenly shot and killed a child during an argument with the transvestites.
The detained children were sprayed with pressured water and the police officers put out cigarettes on the children's hands. These were done to convince children not to act as witnesses.
"Guzel was tortured too"
Judge Mehmet Uysal had an opposition commentary because the police officers had accepted torture as way of getting evidence. Uysal stated that three other police officers Erdinc Aydemir, Kemal Karakas and Erol Aybaz were among those who raped Asiye Zeybek Guzel under detention. Uysal said he could apply to bring legal action against the three police officers.
The court accepted Asiye Zeybek Guzel not as the victim but only as a witness. However, the Capa Medical Faculty's Psychological Trauma Center had documented that Guzel was raped under detention.
Lawyer Ercan Kanar had applied to the Prosecutorship to bring legal action against those who tortured Guzel. His application was rejected after six months. His objection at an Istanbul court was left unconcluded. (BB/NK/EA/NM)