Strip searches, truncheons and sticks meted out to prisoners

Eleven detainees, including detainee Mehmet Özdemir, who was in detention in Silivri L-Type Prison No 2 under a DHKP/C investigation, were sent away to Kırıkkale F-Type Prison on the evening of Tuesday 23 January without any reason being cited. Özdemir’s wife Betül Özdemir said, “I called the prison on getting wind of the distant transfer. But, the prison officials first fobbed me off saying, ‘He’s here,’ and then reacted by saying, ‘Don’t keep bothering us with your calls. Your husband isn’t here’.”
 
Clothing not permitted
 
Betül Özdemir visited her husband on 26 January. Özdemir, stating she learnt that her husband and the eleven prisoners sent away with him had suffered torture, said in the written statement she made, “They bundled them into the prisoner transport vehicle under torture from Silivri. They were told where they were being taken after they had passed Bolu. I was unable to get any information over the course of the day from prison officials, and, on top of this, I got a dressing down every time I called. However, I got the correct information the following day.” Özdemir, alleging that her husband and the other detainees were subjected to a strip search and were beaten with truncheons and sticks on entering Kırıkkale, continued as follows:
 
Water half an hour a day
 
“My husband’s shinbone has been injured. His body is in serious pain. When he went to the sick bay, the doctor sent him back to his cell saying, ‘There’s nothing up with you’ without examining him at all. Shortly before the transfer, my husband had his arm muscles torn at Silivri Prison, once more as a result of the torture he underwent. We saw that he had become very thin when I went to visit with my children. He told us he had not been given his belongings, books and money, the cells were very cold and hot water was only provided for half an hour a day.”