CPT- European Committte for Prevention of Torture answered our letter
Dear Sir/Madam,
I thank you for your e-mail addressed to the CPT. I should inform you that the CPT is not a judicial body and therefore does not have a mandate to take up individual cases. The task of the Committee is to organise visits to places of detention with a view to examining the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty and making recommendations aiming at strengthening the protection of such persons against ill-treatment.
That said, the CPT can take account of individual cases as indicators of a more general problem and, in this respect, the information contained in your e-mail as regards the situation of Mustafa Kocak is of serious concern to the Committee. This information will be taken into consideration during the CPT’s ongoing dialogue with the Turkish authorities and when carrying out future visits to Turkey.
With kind regards,
Secretariat of the CPT
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Türkçe tercümesi…
Grup Yorum ve Mustafa Koçak’a Özgürlük İnisiyatifinin Mustafa Koçak, İbrahim Gökçek ve Helin Bölek için yapılan başvurusuna Avrupa İşkence Önleme Komitesinden gelen cevap
Sayın bayanlar ve baylar;
CPT’ye gönderdiğiniz e-mailden dolay teşekkürler. Size şu bilgiler vermem gerek. CPT yargı merci olmadığından bireysel vakalara bakma yetkisi yoktur. Komitenin görevi gözaltı ve tutukluluk mekanlarını ziyaret ederek, özgürlüğünden maruz bırakılmış kişilere yönelik muamelesini incelemek ve bu kişileri kötü muameleye karşı korumak amaçlı tavsiyelerde bulunmak.
Bunu belirtmişken, CPT daha genel bir sorunu işaret eden kişisel vakaları gözönünde tutabilir ve bu bağlamda, mailinizde Mustafa Koçak’ın durumuyla ilgili verdiğiniz bilgiler komite açısında ciddi bir sorun teşkil etmektedir. CPT, bu bilgileri Türkiye yetkillilerle yapacağı görüşmelerde ve gelecek Türkiye ziyaretlerinde gözönünde bulunduracaktır.
Saygılar…
CPT sekretaryası..
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This is the letter sent to CPT..
LETTER by the Freedom Initiative to
* the Anti-Torture Committee (CPT)
* the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer
To whom it may concern,
Dear sirs,
We would like to denounce severe torture, carried out to hungerstriker Mustafa Kocak in Turkey, who continues a death fast for a fair trial, for about 260 days. The death fast of Mustafa Kocak, as well as of 2 members of the protest band Grup Yorum, is widely known in the country, as for months human rights defenders, lawyer’s associations, artists, members of parliament and writers in alternative media, support the demands of the protesters.The situation became very critical after the long term hunger strike. The government blocks any dialogue and already tried to force feed Mustafa Kocak, who resisted with all possible means.
Helin Bölek and Ibrahim Gökcek, both over 270 days on death fast, were forcibly taken from their house in a raid of special police units with machine guns in the morning of 11th March, at around 3.15 a.m. They were transfered to Umraniye hospital, kept against their will almost a week with a special court order. They were under force feeding threat until the evening of 16th March, partially isolated from their families and other visitors. After a second court decision they could leave the hospital on 16th March and returned without intervention to their home. They are still at life risk due to hungerstrike.
As regards the case of Mustafa: He is still imprisoned, was in Sakran prison (Izmir 1 Nolu T Type) for about 1 year, started a hungerstrike there (today already 260 days), and on 13th March he was transfered to the prison hospital against his will and he started to resist force feeding. From then family and lawyers weren’t given information about him for the next days.In the night of 16th March he was rapidly moved from the prison in an ambulance vehicle, while no information was given to his family or lawyers who waited in front of the prison already for days to get any news about him. When they saw the ambulance vehicle leaving with Mustafa, the family and other people tried to find Mustafa the whole night in different hospitals of Izmir, finally lawyers informed in the morning of 17th March, that he’d been sent to Izmir Kiriklar 1 Nolu F-Type prison. There, his lawyer Ezgi Cakir could talk to Mustafa Kocak and she returned from prison with following statement:
TORTURE IN SAKRAN PRISON: (statement by the lawyer of Mustafa Kocak, Ezgi Cakir, on the 17th March 2020)
He told that he resisted force feeding torture for 5 days.
-73 bottles of serum were bursted on him..
-Mustafa’s arm is full of hematomas..
-Even his head was trusted up because he tried to remove the serum with his teeth…
– He was fixed with 8 handcuffs and 8 footcuffs.
-They put something in his mouth to prevent him from shouting…
-His head and body were fettered with ropes
-They told him, ‘we’ll cripple you and let you go’
– Mustafa told that there were present many officers of the secret service, as well as doctors, the prosecutor of the prison and the prison director. He said they had all witnessed what happened and even joined from time to time.
-He was not allowed to go to toilet and forced to urinate on himself, while not being washed.
– He was sexually abused, by putting a truncheon to his anus.
– He was insulted, offended, abused..
– When he tried to take off the serum, they put it on his legs by force
– Ahead of all that, they psychologically tortured him with laughter and by saying ‘Oh you woke up, you feel good now, don’t you Mustafa?’While they used all that torture crimes, his lawyers and family were prevented to see him with the excause that his immune system was to weak and that it could be a risk for him because of corona virus!Mustafa wanted to forward following message to the people outside: “I’m going to continue my resistance. The venes that bursted are my honor!”
WHY MUSTAFA KOCAK RESISTS?
He was sentenced with life imprisonment, only because of a statement, which was signed under police torture and which was even retracted later!
All what he wants is a fair trial!Full article about the death fast resisting musicians and Mustafa Kocak, and their reason for doing so:They are in life danger, and under torture at the same time…https://www.facebook.com/aNewsblog/posts/2563967450586902
Reactions of lawyers, bar associations, deputies, artists and intellectuals on Twitter against forced intervention threat:
regarding GRUP YORUM capture and attempt of force feeding:
https://twitter.com/Grup_YORUM/status/1238230316751425544… (HDP Istanbul deputy Züleyha Gülüm)https://twitter.com/dilsatcanbaz/status/1238147923969441792… (HDP Istanbul deputy Dilsat Canbaz) https://twitter.com/idilfosem1/status/1238197297995042819… (artist Baris Atay)https://twitter.com/idilfosem1/status/1237758208669814786… (people gathered in hospital after capture of Grup yorum members. They are being removed by police, who concentrated in the hospital. They shout “human dignity will defeat torture”
https://twitter.com/YorumDireni…/status/1237725087467438082… (writer Temel Demirer in front of hospital, the morning after the death fasting Grup Yorum members were taken by force from their house)
https://twitter.com/ArtiTV_/status/1237625615613931520?s=20 (Arti TV interview with lawyer Ezgi Cakir)
regarding force feeding torture on MUSTAFA KOCAK:
https://twitter.com/veliagbaba/status/1240361201554644995… (Veli Agbaba, CHP vice president, deputy of Malatya, asks for research of torture claims on Mustafa Kocak)
https://twitter.com/gergerliogl…/status/1240292466248552451… (Ömer Faruk Gergerlioglu, HDP deputy of Kocaeli, member of commission for examination of human rights. He said after severe torture claims, they tried to reach the authorities for Kiriklar prison, but neither prison director nor the prosecutor picks up the phone)https://twitter.com/dilsatcanbaz/status/1240352514895228929… (Dilsat Canbaz, HDP Istanbul deputy, defends, that death faster Mustafa Kocak and all severe ill prisoners and imprisoned women withi children are immediately released du to Corona virus danger)
https://twitter.com/MUSTAFAAKOC…/status/1240352669719572480… (Veli Agbaba, CHP vice president, deputy of Malatya, issues Mustafa Kocak torture claims in parliament)
https://twitter.com/chdgenelmer…/status/1240305313162694657… (Murat Cepni, HDP Izmir deputy, demands immediate end of torture and that his demand for fair trial is recognized.)
https://twitter.com/chdgenelmer…/status/1240301663790993408… (HDP Batman deputy Mehmet Rüştü TİRYAKİ, speaks in parliament for Mustafa Kocak, defends his demands and condemns his arrest only on the grounds of a statement by a police informer)
We kindly ask you to research, denounce and condemn these torture crimes of the state authorities in Turkey against death fasting prisoner Mustafa Kocak, as well as the kidnapping and forcible internment of Grup Yorum members in Umraniye hospital.
kindest regards
Freedom Initiative for Grup Yorum and Mustafa Kocak
