‘Turkey has a Justice Ministry full of scandals’

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has reminded Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül about the violations of rights that have been commited in prisons across Turkey.

Addressing the MPs at the General Assembly of the Parliament, Gergerlioğlu has said that they submitted several Parliamentary questions to be answered by Gül; however, these questions about the violations of rights in prisons remain unanswered most of the time.

"I visited Gül two years ago and talked about these problems in detail. Mr. Minister told me, 'Mr. Gergerlioğlu, do you think that prisons are five-star hotels?' While I was talking to him about violations, he told me this. Then, let's give some examples from these five-star hotels."

Gergerlioğlu has then moved on to share these violations with the lawmakers. Some of these violations are as follows:

'Prisoners are beaten, letters banned...'

"The daughter of Hüsamettin Uğur from Keskin Prison sent me this. On February 17, he was called to meet the chief officer though he had not made such a request. He was beaten and threatened by four wardens for an hour.

"When he collapsed to the ground, the chief warden said, 'Your corpse will leave here.' I submitted a Parliamentary question, the prison apparently deleted the video footage a day later. That is why, there is no answer.

"Let me read you the letter of Harun Çümen from the Balıkesir Kepsut Prison. He wrote, 'We are 45 people here, the sewer drain is clogged, it is all mess, water is cut. We have killed 25 rats in the ward. When we talk to wardens about it, they mock us, saying, 'Why do you kill them? Feed them.' There is no doctor, one recovers from disease by groaning, everyone catches it. Food is bad, we are about to go mad.' When I declared this to the public, Çümen's right to send letters has been restricted.

'30 students searched naked'

"Do you know what happened at the Uşak Security Directorate? 30 university student young women were subjected to naked body search. Let me tell you this openly: They were told, 'Take off your underpants, then sit down and stand up.' And they indeed made them do this. Shame on you.

"Take a look at the webpage of Diyarbakır Bar Association, there is a statement made yesterday. Mehmet Sıddık Meşe... This happened in Diyarbakır yesterday, he was subjected to foot whipping, his body is in bruises, they tried to heal them with creams.

"No forensic report has been received for a week, the statement of the prisoner has not been taken for a week. The Diyarbakır Bar Association made a statement, no one makes a statement about it.

"Turkey is this kind of a place, fellow MPs. There is such a Ministry full of scandals. Justice has not been served and all hell has broken loose, I tell Mr. Minister..." (DŞ/SD)