ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT
14
Security Court around 12.30 p.m. One or two days later he was taken for
interrogation and accused of being a courier for the PKK between prisons,
and of assisting and harbouring the PKK. Someone calling himself
Mr Güven was apparently present and urged the applicant to confess like
him. He denied these allegations. Under threat of torture, he signed certain
documents, the contents of which were unknown to him, as he was
blindfolded. He was released on 10 December 1993. (For further details see
the summary of his oral evidence and the summaries of his statements, §§
262-278 and 424-442 below.)
15. The case of Hüsniye Ölmez
69. On 16 November 1993 the applicant was apprehended by gendarmes
from the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. She alleged that she
was made to strip naked and tortured with beatings and cold water dousing
during her detention. She was constantly threatened and forced to sign some
papers, the contents of which she did not see as she was blindfolded, with
her hand being held. She was remanded in custody on 10 December 1993
and released by the State Security Court on 17 February 1994. (Ms Ölmez
did not appear before the Commission Delegates, but further details were
given by some of her colleagues; see the summary of the evidence - §§ 31,
47 and 60 above and §§ 96, 141, 153, 166, 197, 228, 254 below; see also
§§ 287, 505-506, 521, 539 and 548 below).
B. The Government's original submissions on the facts
70. Following incriminating statements made by Abdülhakim Güven,
who was on trial for his active membership of the PKK terrorist
organisation, an investigation was instigated against the applicants. He
alleged that the applicants had aided and abetted the organisation in various
ways. (For further details see the summary of his statements to the
gendarmerie and the Diyarbakır State Security Court below, §§ 424-442.)
71. The periods of custody with the gendarmerie or police and the
periods of detention on remand after a judicial decision in relation to the
applicants were as follows:
Tahir Elçi
İmam Şahin
Arzu Şahin
Nevzat Kaya
Şinasi Tur
Sabahattin Acar
Periods of detention in Periods of detention
the
custody
of ordered by a judge
gendarmes / police
23.11.93 - 10.12.93
10.12.93 - 17.02.94
07.12.93 - 21.12.93
21.12.93 - 17.02.94
07.12.93 - 21.12.93
21.12.93 - 17.02.94
18.11.93 - 10.12.93
15.11.93 - 10.12.93
15.11.93 - 10.12.93