ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT
31
198. She was in a large, damp cell on her own with two pieces of wood
on the floor and a disgusting blanket. It was very cold. There was no heating
or lightning. She was only allowed out for interrogation and the use of the
toilet morning and evening. In the evening she was given a piece of bread,
sometimes fresh, sometimes stale and sometimes obviously left over from
someone's meal. There were no female officials or separate sanitary
facilities for women.
199. On 10 December 1993 she was put before a doctor, to whom she
said she was sick. He refused to examine her or assess the cough she had,
only being prepared to note visible injuries from ill-treatment.
200. On 10 December 1993 she was brought before a Public Prosecutor,
Ünal Haney, and an Investigating Judge, Cafer Sadik Üral, to whom she
recounted her ordeal in detention, but neither showed any interest.
201. They failed to acknowledge her ill-health even though, unusually,
she had to sit down in front of them rather than stand up. They ignored her
claims that she could identify her torturers.
202. Before being released, she and other lawyers were addressed by a
gendarme regiment commander called Eşref Hatipoğlu, who warned them
that he knew that suspicious dealings were being carried out in the guise of
human rights' advocacy.
203. After her release, she was so ill that on 13 December 1993 she went
to a doctor, who diagnosed pneumonia and ordered her to stay in bed for 15
days. He gave her a medical certificate to that effect. She did not tell the
doctor what she had experienced in detention.
204. Some time, perhaps in 1996, on an evening before the general
election, Mrs Beştaş was followed by Abdülhakim Güven and 2 gendarmes,
one of whom was from the JITEM. She and her husband were then followed
by other people. She contacted fellow lawyers and the Bar association, and
talked to the Chief Public Prosecutor, Bekir Selçuk, who advised her not to
walk alone in the street.
10. Mesut Beştaş
205. Mr Beştaş was born in 1966 and was a practising lawyer in
Diyarbakır at the material time.
206. The applicant gave the same account as his wife concerning their
being taken into detention at the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie
command (paragraphs 189-190 above). He was separated from her in the
detention centre and taken to a cell upstairs. In the cell his blindfold was
removed. Forty-five minutes later he was taken blindfolded to a room
downstairs and asked questions about his position in the Human Rights
Association, of whose administration he was not a member. He only worked
in the same building as the Association, on the same floor.