16.12.2009 Daily Human Rights Report
(12/088) Incidents in the protests after the closure of DTP and lynch attempts against the demonstrators…
Voluntary village guard and shopkeeper Turan Bilen (39) who did not want to shot down his shop and quarrelled with the demonstrators and after that he opened fire to the crowd with his Kalashnikov rifle and killed Nemci Oral and Kemal Kayacan and wounded seven other in Bulanık District of Muş Province on 15 December 2009. It is reported that he and his family were taken away from the district with a military helicopter. Human Rights Association decided to send a commission to investigate the incident (atilim.org; ntvmsnbc.com; Radikal, 15 December).
Seven out of the 11 detainees in Yüksekova District of Hakkâri Province, three in Iğdır Province, six in Şanlıurfa Province, and four in İstanbul Province were arrested on 15 December 2009. Fifty people were detained in the intervention of police teams to the protestors in Adana Province (Zaman; ANF, 15 December).
(12/089) Finalised Devrimci-Sol main case…
On 15 December 2009 Üsküdar (İstanbul) Heavy Penal Court No. 1 sentenced 39 defendants to life sentence in solitary confinement and with no possibility of parole and 1204 defendants were acquitted in Devrimci-Sol main case which was launched after the coup d’état in 1980. Its first hearing was held in First Army Martial Law Court on 15 Mart 1982 and 1243 defendants had been tried in the case. The Supreme Court of Appeal had annulled the verdict of the local court in 2004 (Milliyet; ntvmsnbc.com, 15 December).
(12/090) Excessive use of force by law enforcement officers…
Police teams that interfered the protest against the closure of Democratic Society Party (DTP) Yüksekova District of Hakkâri Province on 15 December 2009 beat mentally impaired Ü.T. (17) who has been going to the rehabilitation centre he has been educated on the grounds that he is an “activist”. Ü.T. was released eight hours after his father brought the reports that document his condition. It is claimed that he has been constantly vomiting and there are broken bones in his body (ANF, 15 December).
(12/091) Excessive use of force by law enforcement officers…
A travesty named Irmak, made an official complaint against two police officers who had beaten him in the street and in the Merkez Efendi Police Station without showing any reason as he was going to his friend in Merter Region of İstanbul Province in the night of 13 December 2009. He stated that he was released after the preparation of the documents that he had “opposed to the officers on duty” and “harming public goods” in the morning of 14 December 2009 (Radikal, 16 December).
(12/092) Coercion in prison…
The solidarity letters of Human Rights Association’s (HRAHuman Rights Association /IHD) Van, Bingöl, Adana and Mersin Branches that had been sent to prisoner Görgün Oktar in Muş E Type Closed Prison who has been acute health problems on 13 November 2009 were not given to him by the administration of the prison on the grounds that they were “dangerous” (Günlük, 15 December).
(12/093) Tried former deputy…
İstanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 13 adjudicated that Democratic Society Party’s (DTP) co-chairperson Aysel Tuğluk will be brought by force to the next hearing on 30 March 2010 in which she is charged with “making propaganda of an illegal organisation” on 15 December 2009.
İstanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 9 documented that Aysel Tuğluk did not give testimony in the case in which she has been tried with 16 other people on charges of “making propaganda of an illegal organisation” and postponed the hearing to 22 April 2010 (Zaman; bianet.org, 15 December).
(12/094) Intervention to trade union’s action…
The administration of the State’s Railways Corporation (TCDD) had removed sixteen workers from their offices after the strike for one day that had been organised by the Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESKConfederation of Trade Union in the Public Sector ) and the Confederation of the Public Workers’ Trade Unions of Turkey (Türkiye Kamu-Sen) on 25 November 2009. Police teams interfered the solidarity protest of the workers of the TCDD with excessive use of force and detained 5 workers 16 December 2009 in Haydarpaşa Railway Station in Istanbul Province. The administration of TCDD removed 30 more workers from their offices after the intervention (Zaman, 16 December).
