ADANA - Korkmaz Family who were beaten by the police and their work places were raided by the police in Adana, said the police threatened to kill them. Korkmaz family who stated that the police told them not to press charges and they will let them go when it was revealed that the tip off was false, said they will press charges.

 

Nihat, Mustafa, Ramazan and Serdar Korkmaz who was taken under custody with a police raid in Adana, Seyhan and was taken to Narcotics Branch of the Provincial Security Directorate on 6 August, said they were tortured. Korkmaz family who claimed that they were threatened with death, was released from court where they were charged with resisting the police officer.

 

5 members of the Korkmaz family recieved assault reports and filed a criminal complaint  with the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office about the police officers who tortured them. They also sent a petition about the police to the Ministry of Interior. Korkmazlar who received a report of assault from the hospital for police torture, said they were also threatened to be executed.

 

Ramazan Korkmaz who told that the police took him to a dark place and beat him, said: "They laid us on the ground handcuffed us from our backs and beat us. The K9 attacked my brother. They were yelling him to attack. The dog almost ripped my brother's lip off. Police told us to give them the drugs or else they would kill us. One of them said: "Don't fire the gun  into the air, shoot them in the head".They searched the house for an hour and did not find anything. It was a false tip. They beat us in the car and wanted us not to press charges. We filed a criminal complaint anyways."

 

Serdar Korkmaz also said the police beat him with the butt of his gun. Korkmaz said: "4 or 5 police officers laid us on the ground and beat us with the butt of their guns. They handcuffed us and pepper sprayed us especially in the face.They occasionally fired their guns. They put their guns in our heads and yelled at each other 'put a bullet in their brains, we'll tell they went for the guns'. The dog almost ripped my lip off. They tried to force us to give the statements they wrote. We were finally taken to a room with a camera, we were covered in blood. I told what actually happened. They tried to force us to sign a document. They prepared it before, it was 3-4 pages. They told us if we signed those papers, they would let us go. The document was a confession. They wrote that we sell drugs. I didn't sign it. Then they told us that we should say that they were not guilty. They tried to conspire against us. Their superintendent threatened us, he told me he could plant a kilogram of drugs in my place and have me arrested. I was covered in blood in the hospital. They said we'd be in trouble if we ever press charges. We will not let this go. We will press charges."