ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT
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record with Mr Güven, which he had not signed. He confirmed his
statement to the Public Prosecutor.
n) Hüsniye Ölmez
530. Ms Ölmez denied the contents of the preliminary statement which
she was ashamed to say had been extracted from her under torture,
including being stripped naked, sexually harassed and beaten while being
doused with cold water. She also refuted the statements of Mr Güven and
Fatima Demirel. (Ms Demirel had retracted her incriminating statement
against the applicant later - paragraph 533 below.) Ms Ölmez had been a
lawyer for 20 years and had not plotted with the PKK. Mr Güven had been a
prisoners' representative and had given statements in order to benefit from
the Remorse Law. She confirmed her statement to the Public Prosecutor and
denied the slanderous allegation that she had hidden heroin.
o) The Court's decision
531. In conclusion, the Investigating Judge decided to remand in custody
Sabahattin Acar, Tahir Elçi and Hüsniye Ölmez under Article 104 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure; to release Bakir Demırhan, Gazanfer
Abbasioğlu, Mesut Beştaş, Meral Daniş Beştaş, Nevzat Kaya, Arif
Altinkalem, Vedat Erten, Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu, Sabahattin Acar, Fuat
Hayri Demır, Şinasi Tur, Tahir Elçi, Niyazi Çem and Hüsniye Ölmez
“having regard to the characteristics of the offence and the existing
evidence”; and to release pending trial Mesut Beştaş, Meral Daniş Beştaş,
Arif Altinkalem, Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu, and Fuat Hayri Demır
“considering the date of their arrest, the evidence, the characteristics of the
offence, and that the fact that their residence is known”.
12. Other third party statements
a) Statement of Abdülhakim Bakir on 17 March 1993
532. Mr Bakir, a PKK confessor like Mr Güven, described how poison
and a flick knife had been smuggled into prison in January 1993 by a certain
A.K.
b) Evidence given by Fatma Demirel to the Diyabakır State Security
Court on 22 November 1994
533. Ms Demirel said that she had heard of Hüsniye Ölmez and Meral
Daniş Beştaş but that she had never met them. She repudiated the statements
she had given in custody, particularly the allegations regarding these two