ABUSES: Torture of Children
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom
Tel: (44) (71) 413 5500
Fax: (44) (71) 956 1157
January 1995
TURKEY
Torture of 13-year-old in Istanbul
On 7 November 1994, an envelope with money and
cheques disappeared from the handbag of one of
the owners at the Dual Konfeksiyon garment
workshop/store in the ώiώli district
of Istanbul. Suspicion fell on three workers
busy decorating a shop window and on the
13-year-old apprentice Abdullah who had been
asked to look after the telephone while the
owner of the handbag was occupied with a
visitor, but who had also been sent away briefly
to buy bread. When a search of the three adult
workers, the apprentice and the workshop brought
no result, their employers informed the police.
The four suspects were taken to the local police
station and from there to the ώiώli
Investigation Bureau where statements were taken
from the three adult workers. They were released
the same evening (after having paid the police a
bribe, according to one newspaper report).
Abdullah Salman, however, remained in police
custody until 9 November. Although he protested
his innocence, police kept interrogating him and
eventually resorted to torture to obtain a
confession.
His mother learned of his detention when a
relative telephoned her. When she arrived at the
police station, the police at the door allegedly
told her: "We consider your son to be our
own son. Don't worry, we won't so much as flick
him. He is inside, sitting on a
chair."
Abdullah Salman described what really happened:
"After they took us to the Investigation
Bureau, they released H. Z. I stayed there with
the other two people. After a while, a police
officer took me to the lower floor. Then the
Chief Superintendent came. He said to me, `I
think you took the money'. I said, `No, abi*1, I
didn't take it'. He said, `Why do you tell lies,
bastard' and began to hit me.
"Later he choked me and lay me on the
ground. He again began to choke me, and lifted
me up and threw me down a few times. While I was
on the ground he hit my knees, and punched me
twice.
"Some time later they blindfolded me and
trod on my hands. They took the sock off my left
foot and tied something to it. Then they began
to give me electric shocks. My soul really
burned [meaning: it really hurt]. First I
thought he had cut off my toe, then it was as if
my body did not work from the waist down. Every
now and then they hit my head. When they were
giving me the electric shocks, it was as if it
would never end. This went on for three days.
When I shouted out, those in the room shut my
mouth and laughed."
At midnight on 8 November the boy was returned
home and left there for the night. According to
his mother, Abdullah was in such a shock that he
ran away even from his mother when he saw her.
The police returned the following morning at 7am
and took Abdullah back to the police
station.
After three days of torture the police
"remembered" the Criminal
Procedure Code which stipulates that those
detained for criminal offences must have access
to legal counsel, and called a lawyer, who on
arriving at the police station saw the boy's
bruised body. The lawyer demanded access to a
doctor for Abdullah.
The medical report from ώiώli Forensic
Medicine Institute certified:
"On the left side of the knee, 2x3cm bruise
(from a blow), on the left small toe, an erosion
(bruise), on the back of the upper left forearm
1 x 4 cm erosion, erosion in front and around
the neck, erosions behind the left ear, on the
right shoulder - the width of a palm -, and on
the right side of the back. Erosion on the left
underside of the chin, cheek, left kneecap.
Unable to work for three days."
On 9 November, the prosecutor released Abdullah
Salman. Since then the family have been informed
by the owner of the workshop that the stolen
money (cheques and 100 million Turkish Lira in
cash) had been recovered. It had been stolen by
one of the other workers at the workshop. For
Abdullah, however, the story was far from being
over. "In the nights he was waking up
screaming, `I didn't steal it, abi'. When he
sees a police officer in the street, he runs and
tries to hide. No human being could do this to a
13-year-old child", says his mother.
Abdullah Salman was examined for five days at
the psychiatric unit of C[,]apa Medical Faculty
where the psychiatrist found the traumatized boy
to be "mentally subnormal". He will be
examined again six months later to assess to
what extent his treatment at the hands of the
police is responsible for this condition.
Abdullah Salman's mother has lodged a formal
complaint against the police with the public
prosecutor in ώiώli. However, no
investigation has yet been opened and to Amnesty
International's knowledge none of the police
officers who interrogated Abdullah Salman have
been suspended from duty. The prosecutor's
office is said to be awaiting the outcome of the
second psychiatric examination, and the
prosecutor assigned to the case due to be
transferred to another post. ώaziye Salman
also alleges that the police called her to the
police station after the case had appeared in
the newspapers and later offered her a bribe if
she dropped her complaint against the police
officers involved in her son's detention and
torture. She is reported to have said that this
was a case which could not be dropped:
"They said they would do nothing and
brought him to this state. What happened to my
son today, will it not happen to others
tomorrow?"
Amnesty International is appealing for a prompt
and full investigation of the torture of
13-year-old Abdullah Salman in Istanbul and for
those responsible to be brought to justice.
FOOTNOTES/ENDNOTES
*1 `elder brother' - informal term of deference
