Four men who were detained by police in İstanbul for carrying a pump-action rifle in their automobile were subjected to acts of torture at the police station to which they were taken, according to photos obtained by the Mesopotamia news agency.
The men were detained in İstanbul’s Bağcılar neighborhood on May 16 after their car was stopped by the police and were subsequently taken to the Bağcılar 100th Year Kemalpaşa Police Station.
One of the men, Serkan Sezer, said acts of torture against him and his friends by the police began immediately after the rifle, which belongs to his father, was found.
He said the police officers began to use insulting words against them and handcuffed them from behind.
When the men were at the police station, Sezer said they were taken to a room where there were no security cameras and that the police officers began to hit them and fastened their handcuffs to radiator pipes in the room.
The men were taken to another police station that night and to a hospital for a medical examination before they were released in the morning of the next day.
Sezer said although the doctor who examined them saw signs of maltreatment on their bodies, he did not give them medical reports proving they were subjected to acts of torture because the police officers had had a talk with the doctor.
Sezer said he and his friends filed criminal complaints against the police officers after they were released and also sought judicial assistance from the Human Rights Association (İHD).
Since the declaration of a state of emergency in Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, there have been widespread allegations of acts of torture and maltreatment in Turkey’s prisons and detention centers.