Torture "Revealed" at Metris Prison

Bakırköy 14. High Criminal Court committee Recep Karaman, Öznur Yetik, Ruhigül Aydıner, prosecutor Salih Türkyılmaz, Çeber's father Ali Tekin, defendant prisoners, guardians Nihat Kızılkaya, Selahattin Apaydın, Sami Ergazi, second warden of the prison Fuat Karaosmanoğlu, pending defendants Turhan Arslan, Mustafa Eraslan and professional photographer, expert Kaan Altındal attended the crime scene investigation at warden B-8 of Metris Prison where Engin Çeber, who was tortured to death, was beaten.

Lawyers of Çeber family Taylan Tanay, Güray Dağ, Murat Çelik, Naciye Demir, Şükriye Erden also listened to the witnesses,Murat Gevrek, Şükrü Zeren, Yılmaz Aydoğdu who were prisoners at Çeber's ward on the day he was severely beaten.

"You'll be punished as such if you do not stand up for roll call"

One of the witnesses, İbrahim Kılıç, said:

"I was almost next to Çeber while he was beaten. We were asked to go upstairs. Apaydın was one of the guardians beating him. Guardians asked us to take care of Engin as they were leaving the ward. We took Engin into the ward and made him smell onions; however I saw that he was seriously injured"

"Meanwhile, warden Karaosmanoğlu came to the ward and asked the guardians what had happened. When they told that Çeber had not stood up for roll call, Karaosmanoğlu said 'From now on, you'll be punished as such, if you do not stand during the roll call"

One of the witnesses, Tanık Gevrek said:

"The guardians banged Çeber's head to the walls. Apaydın and 2-3 new guardians attacked Engin while he was sitting on his chair. First, Apaydın punched Engin's neck and the other guardians hit his head to the wall. They sent us upstairs while they were hiting him. I saw Engin lying on the ground when I went downstairs. We then took him to medical room."

Will the torturers get punished?

Lawyer Tanay made a statement after they listened to the witnesses:

"We have repeatedly demanded for this investigation since the beginning of the case. However the court kept rejecting our request until the Court of Appeals turned down the its judgement. But the decision for this investigation was given upon the request of the defenders' representatives. We believe that this is yet another effort to hold the case back as much as they could."

Tanay said that they'd listened to the story of Çabar's murder once again during the visit.

"It is clearly an act of  'torture'. The expert was given 20 days to complete his inspection and present his findings and photographs to the court."

"There's no doubt that Çeber was tortured to death. The question is whether Çeber's murderers would be punished or not..."

Çeber's father Ali Tekin also talked to the media in front of the prison: "With my son's case, the authorities acknowledged the existence of  "torture" for the first time. The Minister of Justice publicly apologized. If we haven't followed this case closely, it would also have been covered up as "disappeared in custody" like many others.

Background information

Engin Ceber (29) was taken into custody on September 28^th, 2008 for attending a press meeting and distributing Yürüyüş Magazine.

He was severely tortured at İstinye Şehit Muhsin Bodur Police Station and Metris Prison continiously until 7 October 2008. Finally, he fall into a coma and transferred to a hospital where he died on 10 October 2008. The forensic report confirmed the cause of his death as resulting from torture. A criminal case was initiated against 60 people including 39 wardens,  3 prison managers, 13 police officers, 4 gendarmes and a doctor.

Metris Prison sub-manager Karaosmanoğlu, wardens Apaydın, Ergazı and Kızılkaya were charged with "murder by torture" and sentenced to life imprisonment on 1 June 2010.

Wardens Yavuz Uzun and Murat Çise were charged with torture, intentional injury, neglect of duty and failure to report crimes and sentenced to imprisonment of 7.5 years, police officers Abdulmuttalip Bozyel and  Mehmet Pek to 7.5 years, police officer Aliye Uçak to 2 years and 6 months. This decision was quashed by the 8th Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court. The first hearing date was set to 16 months later, to 20 February 2012  (AS)