ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT
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Diyarbakır E-type prison. At a hearing before the State Security Court on 17
February 1994, he was released, after being threatened, together with his
colleagues, by a gendarme commander. He stated that he had contracted
pneumonia because of the cold he had experienced in gendarme custody.
(For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 205-219
below).
10. The case of Vedat Erten
60. On 23 November 1993 when leaving the Diyarbakır State Security
Court around midday, Mr Erten was apprehended by gendarmes, who
refused to draw up a report on this in the presence of witnesses. An
“apprehension and search report” was drafted later, which he alleged was
unlawful. He gave all his belongings and documents to a trainee lawyer. The
gendarmes took him to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command
where he was questioned about his reasons for taking political cases. The
applicant replied that as a lawyer it was his duty to do so, and that not all his
cases were political. He claimed that he was made to strip naked, abused,
insulted, kicked and slapped. His colleagues - MM. Elçi and Çem and
Mmes Beştaş and Ölmez - were stripped naked and doused with cold water.
False accusations, which the applicant denied, were made against him by
Abdülhakim Güven.
61. On 8 December 1993 he was forced to sign some papers because he
was scared. He was unaware of their contents as he was blindfolded. The
conditions of detentions were inhuman: a slice of bread once and brief toilet
visits twice a day. Moreover, he and the other detainees were crowded
together in a wet corridor.
62. When he was brought to court on 10 December 1993, he learned of
the statements made against him by Abdülhakim Güven. The Prosecutor
alleged that he had been apprehended in possession of an incriminating
PKK document. The applicant replied that this was impossible and illogical.
He claimed to have been “framed”, for he knew of the wave of arrests of his
colleagues at that time and the rumours about Abdülhakim Güven. So he
would have had to have been out of his mind to carry such papers around
with him.
63. The applicant was released then re-arrested a few days later on an
arrest warrant dated 14 December 1993, following the Prosecutor's appeal.
He was remanded in custody in the Diyarbakır E-type prison. He was again
released on 17 February 1994 by the State Security Court. (For further
details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 220-234 below.)
11. The case of Baki Demırhan
64. On 16 November 1993 the applicant was taken into custody when he
was leaving the Diyarbakır State Security Court. He was transported to the