A Torture Death And Three Still In Danger
[Update: The Prime Ministry is investigating. (click here)]
...[Engin] Ceber, an inmate at Istanbul’s Metris Prison, died last week after allegedly being abused and tortured at the hands of police and prison guards. Ceber was reportedly taken into custody along with three friends in Istanbul for selling a leftist magazine. They were later convicted and sent to Metris Prison. The four inmates were allegedly subjected to disproportionate use of force and heavy torture by policemen and prison guards. Ceber was taken to the hospital last week and was pronounced dead there after suffering from a brain hemorrhage as a result of a head injury...
Özlem Dalkiran, from the Helsinki Citizens Foundation, said the greatest obstacle to the elimination of torture and abuse in Turkey is the lack of any serious measures to deter civil servants from torturing civilians. “Civil servants accused of subjecting individuals to abuse go unpunished in our country. There is no serious sanction against them. It takes many years for lawsuits filed against civil servants on human rights violations to reach a conclusion. The fight against inhumane treatment and torture is not something that can be achieved via laws. People’s perceptions of these offenses should change, as well,” she explained…. (click here)
From a Bianet report on the same case (click here):
…[Three young women] Aysun Baykal, Özgür Karakaya and Cihan Gün, who were taken into custody together with Ceber… are still in prison.
[Their lawyer Oya] Aslan says Baykal needs to be in dialysis within a month due to her kidney problem, but she cannot even stand up because of the torture she received. Her condition is critical. Aslan says she has asked for the release of her four clients twice. Her petition submitted on October 6 was rejected. Although her next petition on October 9 got Ceber out, the release of the other three have been denied “because of the nature of the accusation and the incompletion of the evidence collection process.”…
This news made me sick to my stomach. How does a modern country like Turkey kill a person b/c he demonstrated against police brutality? This leaves the impression to the world that they’re bunch of animals, and violence by the police and inside jail is out of control. If the Justic Minister is serious about this problem, why don’t he prosecute them? Why doesn’t he guarantee the safety of the other 3 young women imprisoned for the same crime? I don’t believe that he’s sincere or even see this as a problem. This is an unecessary death.
engin ceber is my first cousin i was in istanbul while all this was happening but the thing that realy hurt me was that whilest i was enjoying my holiday he was prison being tortured by the turkish officers in custody and metris prison which i didnt even know hes was arrested until my uncle got a phone call form engins solicitor saying u need 2 come to the hospital in sisli we was like why they said ur son has been tortured by the prison officers.so we all went there and saw him in coma at sisli hospital then as days went pass he was getting worsa and worsa then we unfortunantly we lost him said to me 1 ov hes m8s i was crying and just droped on the floor…..i dont have anymor 2 say.. to this.. thank you 4 reading this little paragraph