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Campaign
Tue, 06. Jun 2006
Lawyer Analay says "Diyarbakir incidents show officials are not sincere in
zero-tolerance policy for torture". Calls for 34 investigations launched
into police torture allegations to be followed up and not be inconclusive
like others.
A total of 34 preparatory investigations have been launched against police
officers in Diyarbakir related to allegations of torture and mistreatment of
children and adults during and after the March 28-April 1 disturbances in
the city this year.
Diyarbakir Bar Association Children Rights Center lawyer Cengiz Analay
welcomed the investigations and told Bianet that "even if with a delay it
appears for now that what should be done against torture and mistreatment,
is being done. But the 24 torture files that have been opened should not end
up inconclusive like the others".
Analay said that as the city Bar Association they are following this issue
closely and are waiting for the result of the 34 investigations with
interest. He said they insisted that torturers not be left unpunished.
"No reason can justify torture" Analay said, stressing that torture is
banned by the Turkish constitution as well as international conventions to
which Turkey is a part of, and is a crime against humanity.
"We see it as unacceptable that the crime of torture which is regarded as a
crime against all human beings, has been widely committed during the March
28 incidents" he said.
Zero-Tolerance not sincere
Analay said that although officials previously promised zero tolerance
against torture and there was a decrease in torture incidents with the
European Union accession period, "it has come out in the open with the
incidents on March 28 in Diyarbakir that this was a temporary situation and
that the promises made by officials on all platforms were not sincere".
"Many people were detained and arrested in the incidents that on March 28
started off from the province of Diyarbakir and spread to nearby provinces
and districts. In interviews we conducted with those detained, they told us
that they were subjected to many inhuman treatments and that they were
tortured in detention centers. Doctor reports, their statements to the
prosecutors and photographs taken by ourselves confirms this," Analay
explained.
Law change not enough
Analay added that amendments in the law would not be enough to change the
position on torture and said that in order to prevent torture, preventative
measures should be effectively taken but where torture was recorded, the
culprits should be punished in the most severe way.
The Diyarbakir Bar Association had applied to the provincial Governor's
Office and requested investigations to be launched in 72 separate instances
of torture under custody claims.
During the incidents in Diyarbakir between March 28 and April 1, 2006, a
total of 10 people including five children were killed as result of
disproportional force used by the police and hundreds of others were
wounded. 213 children and 364 adults were placed under custody where they
were subjected to mistreatment and torture.