Security forces deployed in the region of Turkey devastated by the February 6 earthquakes beat, tortured and subjected to other forms of ill-treatment of people they suspected of theft and looting, said Amnesty International And Human Rights Watch Wednesday, April 5. One person died in custody after being tortured.
In several cases, these police, gendarmes or soldiers did not intervene to prevent individuals from violently attacking other people whom they apparently suspected of crimes.
“We will kill you and bury you under the rubble”
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch interviewed 34 people and, where possible, reviewed video footage of 13 cases of violence perpetrated by police, gendarmes – in rural areas – or soldiers deployed in the region. area, involving 34 male victims.
Researchers have collected other testimonies and viewed videos showing others being beaten by security forces, but have not been able to fully confirm these events. Those interviewed include 12 victims of torture or other forms of ill-treatment, two people held at gunpoint by gendarmes, as well as witnesses and lawyers.
A Turk said that a gendarme threatened him, telling him: “There is a state of emergency, we will kill you (…) We will kill you and bury you under the rubble. A Syrian said that a commissioner, to whom he had reported that a policeman had punched him in the face, told him: “It’s a state of emergency here. Even if this policeman kills you, he will not be held to account. Nobody could tell him anything. »
Victims “forced” to confess to crimes
On March 17, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch wrote to the Turkish Ministers of Interior and Justice. The two ministries said that the Turkish government has zero tolerance for torture, and that the findings of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were “vague assertions devoid of factual basis”.
Most of the victims said they were apprehended by groups of police, gendarmes or soldiers while taking part in search and rescue operations in buildings destroyed by the tremors, or while walking through certain neighborhoods of ‘Antakya.
In the majority of cases, the victims were not taken into formal custody, but were immediately beaten or forced to lie on the ground or kneel, sometimes handcuffed, while being kicked, slapped and insulted them for a long time. Some were forced to “confess” to crimes. Only two cases resulted in an investigation against the victims for alleged offences, which raises serious doubts that they were really suspected of having acted illegally.
