Top court says detention of Gezi Park victim’s mother violated prohibition of ill-treatment

Turkey’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the violent detention in 2017 of the mother of one of the victims of anti-government Gezi Park protests in 2013 was a violation of her rights, the local media reported on Tuesday, citing the Official Gazette.

The court recently concluded an individual application filed by Gülsüm Elvan, the mother of Berkin Elvan, who died after he was injured during the Gezi Park protests in İstanbul in the summer of 2013, ruling that her violent detention during a protest in İstanbul in 2017 violated the prohibition of ill-treatment.

Elvan’s arm was broken by a police officer when she was handcuffed from behind for resisting police during a protest in Kadıköy in support of imprisoned educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who had been on a hunger strike for over 150 days, in August 2017. She was subsequently taken to a hospital for treatment.

The top court said the detention violated Article 17 of the Constitution, which prohibits torture and ill-treatment, ordering the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to pay Elvan TL 20,000 ($1,092) in damages, according to Turkish media reports.

Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old Turkish teenager, died in 2014 after being in a coma for 269 days induced when he was hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired by police during the Gezi Park protests.

Gülmen and Özakça were demanding reinstatement to their jobs. They were among the more than 130,000 public servants who were fired in the aftermath of a failed coup in July 2016 on the grounds that they had links to “terrorist” organizations.