'I took basic needs such as rice, tomatoes, and potatoes'

Sabri Güreşçi (far left) with his father and lawyers. Photo: ÇHD

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After the earthquake hit the city of Hatay, on February 7 he entered a Şok supermarket in search of food and basic needs, Sabri Güreşçi testified at the Altınözü Penal Court.

"Everybody was looking for food. If nobody would have taken it, I wouldn't have either. I took basic needs such as rice, tomatoes, and potatoes. I don't know who was in the car, with the alcohol, safety vault and rifles... In that car, I saw E. and Ö., my brother Ahmet was not in the car."

A couple of days later, on February 11, Sabri Güreşçi and his brother Ahmet were taken into custody on charges of robbery.

Authorities nabbed them from their tent in the Büyükburç District, where they stayed with their family. A lawyer from the progressive lawyer association previously told bianet that tensions rose high in the city, after footage of alleged "looting" was circulating on social media.

''You too can come''

Their father described the situation: "On February 11, around 10:30 while I was sitting in the tent, I heard two gunshots. Sabri was outside, and I left the tent to see what was happening. When I was outside, eight gendarmes asked me about Sabri Güreşçi. Sabri approached them with his hands in the air after the gun sounds. Then they put my son Sabri Güreşçi in a Ford Transit type vehicle belonging to the gendarme. After driving for around 10-15 meters, my other son Ahmet Güreşçi comes out of the tent and asks what is going on to the gendarme. They respond with 'who are you?' My son Ahmet, after saying his name, the gendarme says 'you too can come,' and they put him as well in the car."

Yesterday evening Sabri Güreşçi, after being beaten and battered at the police station, was released under judicial control with the imposition of a travel ban. His lawyers affirmed that he sincerely confessed that he only took basic needs for him and his family due to a state of need.

''This job is finished. There is no need.'

Sabri's brother Ahmet Güreşçi however, did not survive the beating. According to the father of the two sons, the story goes as follows:

"While I was waiting by the roadside at the outer gate of the Nizamiye, I saw four gendarmerie personnel take out a person wrapped in a blanket and put him in the vehicle. From what I could see, the person wrapped in the blanket was motionless. Thinking it could be my son, we went to the hospital with Sabri's wife and children. When I went to the hospital, they brought the covered person to a room and closed the door. When I asked who this person was, they declared that it was 'a person with Syrian nationality.'

"Despite this, I did not want to leave the hospital and tried to get a glimpse of the person. After the door opened for a short moment, I was able to see the person wrapped in a blanket. But I wasn't sure who it was. Sometime after we left, a doctor whose name I don't know asked the gendarme, 'Shall we take him by ambulance.' The gendarme said something like 'this job is finished. There is no need.'

"I insistently kept asking, as I thought that the person wrapped in the blanket would be Sabri. The gendarme wanted me away from the area and told me that Sabri was at the police station. I returned back at the police station. Despite waiting for hours, they did not want to meet with me. They met for perhaps 5 to 10 minutes with his wife.

''I returned because I was confident that the wrapped person was Sabri. I thought the person could not be Ahmet, as I thought that Ahmet had nothing to do with the events and was released.

"The following day, around 7:00, I returned to the hospital, and I asked the morgue assistant, who I knew, to enter the morgue. He accepted, and when I saw the deceased person, I saw my son Ahmet.

"The gendarme said that they released Ahmet. However, they said that citizens battered him during the looting. When I saw my son in the morgue, there were bruises and bruises on his face due to the beating and signs of assault on his body."

The Altınözü Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the allegations of death and torture at the police station. (AS/WM)