İşkence Davasında Dönüm Noktası Cezalar
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Landmark Convictions in Torture Case
08/11/2010 13:20:39
(Istanbul) - Theheavysentencesfor nine prison and policeofficialfortorture,leadingin onecaseto death, is amomentousverdictthat should signal arenewedeffort by the Turkish government to end torture incustody, Human Rights Watch said today. Thecaseis the first in which a Turkish courtconvictedaseniorprisonofficialfor torture by guards under hiscommand.
Theconvictionsin an Istanbul court on June 1, 2010, were for the torture death of Engin Çeber, anactivistwith the Rights and Freedoms Association, a politicalassociation. Çeber died in an Istanbul hospital on October 10, 2008 after beingrepeatedlybeatenin police custody and in prison. An autopsy report by the Forensic Medicine Institute concluded that he had died from a brainhemorrhageas a result ofblowsto the body and head and that his injuries werecommensuratewith torture.
"The authorities in Turkey have beennotoriousforprotectingtorturers," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Çeber verdict should signal that the Turkish justice system willno longerturn a blind eye to torture and otherill-treatment."
Thecourtconvicted in all 19 officials for their role in the activists' torture. A prison doctor wassentencedto three years and one month forfalsifyingdocumentsclaimingtheinmateshad been examined by medical staff on their arrival at the prison. Other prison officers received five-monthsuspended sentencefornegligenceand failure to report a crime. Agendarmeriespecialsergeantreceived a five-month suspended sentenceintentionalfor injury, while two other gendarmes wereacquitted.
"The Çebercasehighlightsthe Turkish authorities'failureto protectdetaineesfrom torture in spite of improved procedural protections in recent years," Sinclair-Webb said. "The convictions in the Çeber case should signal a renewed commitment to end torture in Turkey,once and for all."
İşkence Davasında Dönüm Noktası Cezalar - Landmark Convictions in Torture Case
(Istanbul) - Theheavysentencesfor nine prison and policeofficialfortorture,leadingin onecaseto death, is amomentousverdictthat should signal arenewedeffort by the Turkish government to end torture incustody, Human Rights Watch said today. Thecaseis the first in which a Turkish courtconvictedaseniorprisonofficialfor torture by guards under hiscommand.
Theconvictionsin an Istanbul court on June 1, 2010, were for the torture death of Engin Çeber, anactivistwith the Rights and Freedoms Association, a politicalassociation. Çeber died in an Istanbul hospital on October 10, 2008 after beingrepeatedlybeatenin police custody and in prison. An autopsy report by the Forensic Medicine Institute concluded that he had died from a brainhemorrhageas a result ofblowsto the body and head and that his injuries werecommensuratewith torture.
"The authorities in Turkey have beennotoriousforprotectingtorturers," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Çeber verdict should signal that the Turkish justice system willno longerturn a blind eye to torture and otherill-treatment."
Thecourtconvicted in all 19 officials for their role in the activists' torture. A prison doctor wassentencedto three years and one month forfalsifyingdocumentsclaimingtheinmateshad been examined by medical staff on their arrival at the prison. Other prison officers received five-monthsuspended sentencefornegligenceand failure to report a crime. Agendarmeriespecialsergeantreceived a five-month suspended sentenceintentionalfor injury, while two other gendarmes wereacquitted.
"The Çebercasehighlightsthe Turkish authorities'failureto protectdetaineesfrom torture in spite of improved procedural protections in recent years," Sinclair-Webb said. "The convictions in the Çeber case should signal a renewed commitment to end torture in Turkey,once and for all."