Turkey: Torture, threats and attacks against human rights lawyer Aytekin Akta?

IAPL

The Observatory has been informed about the acts of torture, threats and physical and verbal attacks against human rights lawyer Aytekin Akta?, a member of the Progressive Lawyers Association (Ça?da? Hukukçular Derne?i – ÇHD) and Lawyers for Justice (Adalet ?çin Hukukçular), while he was representing a Life Watch protestor detained by the Gendarmerie in Hatay province, in the region affected by the deadly February 6, 2023 earthquakes. The earthquakes caused the death of over 52,000 people, left thousands more injured and displaced millions in Turkey and Syria. This humanitarian crisis prompted President Erdo?an to enact a three-month state of emergency in the affected areas, which led to disproportionate restrictions to fundamental freedoms and abuses by law enforcement. The Life Watch protests are peaceful gatherings of Hatay residents who survived the earthquake that went on for several weeks against the dumping of rubble in various locations across the province without sufficient precautions in place and by putting public health at risk, particularly of those who live around the dump sites.

On April 4, 2023, Aytekin Akta?, who was in the earthquake region to provide voluntary legal support, arrived at the Ye?ilköy Neighborhood of Samanda?, a district in Hatay, after being informed that Gendarmerie officers detained a participant of the Life Watch protest, where earthquake survivors had gathered to read a press statement. Upon Akta?’s arrival at the protest location behind the Samanda?-Antakya Road in Ye?ilköy, he identified himself as a lawyer to the Gendarmerie and asked to see his client. The Gendarmerie first stated that his client was held inside a vehicle, but when Akta? asked whether the Gendarmerie had a detention order concerning his client as per the law, the Gendarmerie became hostile by insulting and roughing him up and denied providing information on the detention order.

After Akta? insisted that detention without the prosecutor order and interference with lawyers performing their professional duties are unlawful, both Akta? and protestors at the site were battered by the Gendarmerie, and forcibly removed from the area where the detention vehicles were. When Akta? started recording the violence with his phone, the Gendarmerie officers removed the name tags off their uniforms and took his phone. At least 10 Gendarmerie officers then attacked Akta? and dragged him to a more concealed location between vehicles. Officers tortured Akta? by beating him with batons, kicking and punching him, stepping on his neck with boots, dragging him on the ground, and twisting his arm by encouraging each other to “break his arm”, while insulting and threatening to kill him by saying: “This is the state of emergency region, we will kill you here and no one can do anything about it”. They later put Akta? in a vehicle where they continued to torture him, trapped him inside the vehicle and refused to release him, while violently detaining others at the protest site who witnessed the Gendarmerie’s attacks against Akta?. After approximately 30 minutes, the Gendarmerie released Akta?.

While he was gathering plate numbers and names of the officers involved in the attacks, Akta? was once again assaulted by Gendarmerie officers. This second attack ended when Akta? was able to escape the Gendarmerie. ÇHD filed a criminal complaint following these violent acts with the Hatay Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

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https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/turkey-torture-threats-and-attacks-against-human-rights-lawyer

https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/avukata-yonelik-jandarma-iskencesine-suc-duyurusu-haber-1613899 (TURKCE)