29 October 2010
Taken to police station and beaten after ID control
A criminal complaint was filed against Volkan and Okan Beşli brothers, who were beaten violently and fined for “insubordination” by police in Ümraniye Çakmak Police Station they were taken to after identity card control.
Construction workers Volkan(24)and Okan(29), who were leaving their workplace at the end of the shift on 9 October 2010, were subjected to id control by police in Ümraniye, Çamlık district. Expressing that they kindly passed their id cards to the police, Okan Beşli tells the event as follows; “My brother asked the police if they would make a domiciliary visit. The police responded ‘If we want, we can even search your underpants, not only your house’ and started to take off my brother’s sweat pants. And they made us get on their car and took us to the police station when my brother said ‘If you will make that kind of search, do that in the station, not on the street’.”
WE WERE BEATEN BY PASSERSBY IN THE STATION
Volkan Beşli told the event ANF as follows; “When we got off the car, the police, who searched me, started to hit and kick me while pushing me into the station. They battered us both and took us to recognition room. Then, a police swore at me and started to hit me. When my brother shouted him to stop and walked through him, he was surrounded by many civil policemen who beat and handcuffed us before getting us on the ground. We were drenched in blood when we couldn’t stand it anymore and started to shout. Then, a policeman came in, shouted at us and started to hit my brother’s head at the ceramic tile. And when I gave reflection shouting, this time he came towards me and started to bruise my head with his feet in shoes…”
Telling that a chief had us unclamped when he came to the room after 15-20 minutes and shouted at them when he saw us lie in a pool of blood, Beşli told the followings; “We were hearing the laughing sound of polices coming from the inside. No matter how much we tried to tell the chief about our situation, he did not even listen to us. After that, unashamedly, they fined us 143 TL for ‘insubordination’. We were astonished but we kept silent to be able to go out of there. They wanted to take our statements but we refused and told them that we will give them to prosecutor.”
Saying that they were taken to Kazım Karabekir State Hospital, Beşli added the followings; “Although my face was in blood, the doctor made fun of us, saying; ‘Is this the problem?’ He returned us back without any report. We went back to the police station, where they this time abused us by shouting and reviling. It was around 14:00 when we came to the station and 19:00 when we left there. When I went out of there, I was so depressed that I went through a crying fit…”
Remarking that they received temporary incapacity report from Private Erdem Hospital, Beşli said; “Because of the battery and the trauma I got, I was not able to work for 15 days. That’s why I can’t pay my debts to bank and market”.
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT FOR INSUBORDINATION
Saying that they were shocked with the second news when they came to Ümraniye Courthouse to give their statements, Beşli told the followings; “We learned that the policemen with the names Remzi Ertürk, S. Ertunç Çalışkan and Önder Ece, who battered us for hours and fined us, had filed a criminal complaint against us for ınsubordination. But, when we told the prosecutor what we lived in the police station; he filed a criminal complaint against them. We also suited them for our material and mental loses.
And Volkan Beşli asked; “They have no right to beat me in the station even if I am a thief. I don’t want to guess how police reacts in other cases, while treating us in this way during a simple id control. They say that they are there to protect people but who will protect us from them?”
Beşli expresses that his pride was swallowed apart from his victimhood and added; “I have been living in İstanbul for 25 years now but I have never been beaten by someone else in this way. I would surely have reacted to them if my hands hadn’t been handcuffed. The more we pleased them to stop, the more they hit us. Humanity is not suitable for them. Now, wherever I see policemen, I disgust and hate them all.”
Translation: Berna Ozgencil
ANF / ISTANBUL
ANF NEWS AGENCY
