ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 28 8. Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu 173. Mr Kurbanoğlu was born in 1970 and at the material time was a practising lawyer in Diyarbakır. Most of his cases were before the State Security Court. 174. On 20 November 1993 at 7.20 a.m. armed men rang at his door. He opened up and they searched his apartment without introducing themselves. He was allowed to telephone a cousin, Sadik Ateş, who came over. Nothing was seized. His cousin countersigned the search report. 175. He was taken into custody, blindfolded, at the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command where, but a week before, colleagues of his had also been detained. He was held in a corridor for 21 days (20 days according to official records). After 2 or 3 days he was taken to another side of the corridor where there was a blanket on the floor. Around midnight he was interrogated. He was accused of doing more than just providing legal representation for PKK people. His interrogators tried intimidating him by saying he was not being detained in Diyarbakır but in Elazığ where it was known that the bodies of “disappeared” persons had been found. 176. He was constantly beaten when taken back and forth from interrogation, always after midnight, 5 or 6 times. He was kept blindfolded throughout the 21 days without any washing facilities. The corridor was crowded and he was unable to stretch out his legs. A piece of bread was given out in the evening, a quarter or half a loaf. In the beginning it was fresh, but after a few days it was stale and was obviously left-overs. They were given drinking water once a day and taken to the toilet twice a day. In case of urgency they would be allowed to go to the toilet. It was cold in winter, with a fan which made the air even colder. Loud martial music was played continuously except for a 2 or 3 hour break during the night. 177. Tahir Elçi and Niyazi Çem were held with him. They were taken to the toilet, from where he heard them screaming and shouting. They were beaten up and hosed with cold water. Mr Çem returned soaking wet and the applicant tried to dry his hair for him. 178. He believed that Gazanfer Abbasioğlu and Fuat Hayri Demir arrived after him and were in cells, as were Şinasi Tur and Arif Altinkalem. Mr and Mrs Beştaş were detained also. 179. Mr Kurbanoğlu had met Abdülhakim Güven when visiting clients in the Diyarbakır E-type prison where the latter was the prisoners' representative. He was confronted with someone purporting to be Mr Güven during an interrogation, but the applicant was not sure whether it was truly him due to the blindfold. This person made remarks about the applicant's associate, Şinasi Tur, but said nothing about the applicant. The applicant had had no prior knowledge of Mr Tur's purported PKK activities for which he was subsequently convicted and sentenced. They had just been school friends and had shared a legal practice together.