I was harassed and subjected to violence in detention
The first hearing of the lawsuit filed against 120 people, including 3 lawyers, who were detained in front of Cevahir Shopping Mall during the Şişli protests that followed the 19 March operation against İBB, was held at İstanbul 71st Criminal Court of First Instance.
Politics Service
The first hearing of the lawsuit filed against 120 people, including 3 lawyers, who were detained in front of Cevahir Shopping Mall during the Şişli leg of the protests that spread all over the country following the 19 March operation against İBB, was held at İstanbul 71st Criminal Court of First Instance. The court rejected the request to separate the files of 3 lawyers on trial.
THEY HAD THE CUSTODY CLEANED
One of the detained students said, ‘I had gone to Cevahir Shopping Centre. When I saw the crowd, I went to look. I told the riot police that I wanted to go out; they responded by saying, ’You shouldn't have entered. I was not allowed to leave the blockade. I was kept in handcuffs behind my back for hours. They made me clean the detention centre, which was filthy. Menstruating women were not given pads. No medication was provided. Our demands were not met until our lawyers arrived.’
Another student said, ‘I am a literature student. I did not participate in any demonstration. I went to Cevahir Shopping Mall for sightseeing. When we saw the crowd, we wanted to take a look. We were blockaded, even though we wanted to leave, they stubbornly refused to let us out. We were kept in handcuffs until midnight. We were kept in the car park of Vatan Police Headquarters in the cold. In the morning they took us into custody. They made us clean the filthy detention centre. No announcement was made to leave the area. They just said to take off your masks,’ he said.
I WAS VERBALLY HARASSED
Another student described the sexist treatment she was subjected to in detention as follows: ‘A female police officer made fun of my gender. She said, ‘Are you a girl or a boy? I was verbally harassed. They handcuffed me behind my back four times. They did this even though I did not accept this practice. We were kept in handcuffs for hours.’
Another student also stated that he was detained in reverse handcuffs with disproportionate force and was subjected to violence in the detention vehicle. The student said, ‘A police officer punched me twice in the detention vehicle. A police officer cut my waist with a knife while removing the plastic handcuffs while I was being taken to the detention centre. I have a hospital report about this.’
