“Political [prisoners] are being subjected to torture,” said a man under arrest, in an obvious cry for help, as he was being forced into a police car after a medical checkup in Manisa province.
With allegations of ill-treatment of Turkey’s post-coup prisoners becoming more widespread by the day, the relatives of an arrested man videotaped a statement by him that made earlier allegations even more credible.
While his relatives were recording a video of the man on his way back to prison after a medical checkup, he screamed, claiming that political prisoners are being tortured in Turkey.
Amnesty International stated on July 24 that it had collected credible evidence that detainees in Turkey are beaten, tortured and on some occasions raped in official and unofficial detention centers across the country.
Turkey has already detained 51,000 people and arrested 27,000 others over alleged links to the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding a July 15 coup attempt.
Mehmet Metiner, a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said this week that there would be no investigations into claims of torture and mistreatment of people put in prison after the coup attempt if those victims are sympathizers of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Gülen denies any involvement in the abortive coup, demanding credible evidence from the Turkish government.