Turkey fights against allegations by journalist Yücel that he was tortured in prison. A reminder from the Foreign Office also rejected the Turkish government.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has denied journalist Deniz Yücel’s allegation that he was tortured while in detention in Turkey. The subsequent reminder of the Federal Foreign Office to adhere to the United Nations Convention against Torture was dismissed by the ministry.
The prosecutor’s office investigated the incident and decided to close the case. The pointless allegations were aimed at making Turkey bad. The statement from the German Foreign Ministry was completely unfounded. All Turkish prisons could be „screened by international mechanisms“.
Allegation: beatings, kicks, humiliation while in custody
Yücel had testified in the lawsuit brought against him by the Turkish judiciary that he had been tortured during his detention. In the written version of the statement, Yücel mentions beatings, kicks, humiliation and threats by law enforcement officers during his first days in the Silivri high security prison near Istanbul.
Furthermore, Yücel had testified that he had filed criminal charges in Turkey after the incidents. However, the prosecutor’s investigation had been terminated without his having been heard.
Following the allegations, the Foreign Ministry had called on the government in Ankara to abide by the United Nations Convention against Torture without directly responding to Yücel’s torture allegations. „We condemn any form of torture and ill treatment, they are outside the law.“ The Turkish government should „adhere to the international standards to which it has committed itself,“ said a spokeswoman for the ministry.
If convicted, threatened with 18 years in prison
Yücel was imprisoned in Turkey for one year without charge until February 2018. In Istanbul, he is currently being tried in absentia, partly because of „propaganda for a terrorist organization“. The local court had agreed that the defendant may testify in the context of legal assistance before a judge in Germany. If convicted, Yücel faces up to 18 years imprisonment.
