In the Navberojan area of the Rûbarok (Derecik) district in Colemêrg (Hakkari), Serhat, Mahmut Serkan Taş, Ercan Özmen, and S. Taş were tortured by Turkish soldiers on July 25, 2023, while herding their cattle.
As the four young men were being tortured, soldiers also opened fire on them. The youths, some of whom were minors, sustained injuries to various parts of their bodies.
Following the incident, they were brought before the prosecutor on charges of “violating the passport law” and were released under judicial control.
Despite the existence of widely circulated footage showing the torture and medical reports documenting the injuries, the prosecutor’s office dismissed the criminal complaint filed by the four young men. Two years after the incident, it ruled that “the use of force did not exceed legal limits to prevent escape” and that “there was insufficient evidence.”
They were tortured while herding their animals
On the day of the incident, four youths, one of whom was a minor, left their village to graze their sheep in the mountainous area. There, they were first subjected to harassment fire by the soldiers and later insulted and physically tortured by dozens of soldiers who came from the military post.
The youths, who were threatened with death and injured by rifle butts, were taken into custody when villagers who witnessed the torture arrived at the scene. Despite the villagers’ protests, the youths were not released, and insults and torture continued at the military post.
Although they were villagers and shepherds, the soldiers described the youths in their statements to the prosecutor as “four fugitives attempting to cross the border.” The youths were held in custody for three days, while no action was taken against the soldiers who carried out the torture.
Chief prosecutor responded to the criminal complaint after two years
The Human Rights Association (IHD) Colemêrg (Hakkari) Branch and the Colemêrg Bar Association’s Commission on Children’s Rights filed a criminal complaint against the law enforcement officers responsible for the incident, accusing them of “torture, insult, armed threat by multiple individuals, and threat.”
The Şemdinli Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office responded to the criminal complaint this month, two years after it was filed. Despite the passage of time and the existing evidence and witness testimonies, the prosecutor’s office decided not to proceed with an investigation, claiming that “there was insufficient evidence and the soldiers did not exceed the use of force.”
The decision framed the youths as “fugitives attempting to cross the border” and described the military post as being located along the border. Despite the images clearly showing the torture, the non-prosecution decision was justified with the following reasoning:
“During their apprehension, the individuals resisted the military personnel on duty and attempted to flee in order to avoid capture. The military personnel, in turn, used force to neutralize the individuals and physically intervened to maintain control until they could be handed over to the gendarmerie units…”
Villagers’ testimonies not accepted as evidence
The soldiers who carried out the torture also claimed that the villagers who tried to protect the youths had come to “lynch” them, and that this was why they went to the military post. In the non-prosecution decision, despite Ercan Özmen, one of the detained youths, clearly describing the torture in his official statement, the prosecutor’s office did not accept his testimony as valid evidence.
A portion of Özmen’s statement reads as follows: “We went out to graze the animals. On our way back home, soldiers blocked our path and told me and my friends to ‘stop.’ When they said stop, we did. Then, without any questioning or explanation, they attacked us. Around 20 soldiers forced us to the ground and beat us. I do not know the reason.
They hit me on my back. All the soldiers struck my friends and me on our legs with the weapons in their hands. We were all injured. I did not injure anyone. The soldiers were twice our size. It was impossible for us to assault them. There were four of us and an entire military unit of them. We barely escaped their hands. I am filing a complaint against the soldiers who beat me. As I stated in my testimony, I did not harm anyone.”
Soldiers left unpunished
In addition to the testimonies, the medical reports confirmed that the individuals had bruises and injuries on their bodies, noting that the wounds could be treated with simple medical intervention. Despite the evidence and statements gathered, the chief prosecutor’s office issued a non-prosecution decision two years after the criminal complaint was filed regarding the torture.
Source: ANF News
