DİYARBAKIR - A captain and soldiers who were in charge of transferring an ill prisoner to hospital, beat Murat Duran until he passed out.

 

Murat Duran, held in İzmir Şakran Type 2 Prison, was battered by a captain and soldiers in the vehicle while he was taken for routine check-ups due to the damage to his internal organs and stomach due to the hunger strikes on different dates. The incident took place on January 4, at İzmir Çiğli Training and Research Hospital, while waiting for the prison vehicle. Duran, who reacted to the soldiers' swearing at women prisoners, were attacked by a captain and his soldiers and beaten until he passed out. A criminal complaint was filed against the soldiers and their captain by Attorney Özcan Sarıoğlu, a member Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) İzmir Branch. The prison administration started an investigation against Duran for allegedly 'agitating the prisoners' and punished him with solitary confinement. 

 

HE LOST CONSCIOUSNESS

 

Stating that he learned about the beating after he spoke to his client and Duran has been deteriorating since the beating, Sarıoğlu said: "My client reacted to the guards harassing the female prisoners. Then the captain and the soldiers started beating him. He fell on the ground and they kept kicking him on the ground. He still has bruises all over his body. The captain ordered the gendermerie to block the camera while they were beating Duran who was handcuffed from the back at the time. He lost consciousness after the attack."

 

DURAN WAS SENT BACK TO PRISON WOUNDED

 

Stating that Duran was put into the prison vehicle covered in blood and wounded, Sarıoğlu said: "Duran was brought to the hospital in this state and checked for the bruises in his head and face and put on an IV drip for nausea. I guess the prison administration understood the gravity of the situation because they sent him back to the hospital the next day. However the same captain and soldiers were appointed to take him to the hospital so my client refused to go to hospital. So his was sent to another hospital."

 

BATTERED PRISONER PUNISHED INSTEAD OF THE ATTACKERS

 

Sarıoğlu said that they would add the assault report and medical reports they received from the hospital to the criminal complaint. Stating that they filed a criminal complaint against the attackers when he last visited Duran but the prison administration started an investigation against Duran even though he was the one that was battered. Sarıoğlu underlined that Duran was sent to solitary confinement for punishment and shared the information that they filed a criminal complaint with Karşıyaka Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to carry out an investigation.

 

 

MA / Ceylan Şahinli