It has been revealed that the administration of T Type Closed Prison of Çilimli, Düzce, has been using pressure and torture methods on political prisoners.

The prisoners have told their families they have been put in solitary confinement with their feet tied and reverse handcuffs. But families were told by the prison director that in fact prisoners were lying.

The prisoners exposed the situation to ANF and called for these repressive methods to be exposed demanding that rights organizations deal with the issue.

Prisoners who demanded that a delegation of lawyers, doctors and psychologists come to prison emphasized that the tortures were systematically applied. Among the prisoners tortured are also some of those on hunger strike.

Letter from prisoners

In the letter the prisoners sent, they pointed out that the torture and repressive methods in the Düzce / Çilimli T-Type Closed Prison had been continuous for the last 4 years. "Insults, profanities, psychological pressures, and arbitrary searches continued to grow from April 2018. During May guards raided the cells at night. All the prisoners were subjected to severe beatings. Guards and the gendarmerie have entered so many times the ward - said the prisoners - that we lost count. They started to insult and call us in. We have started to be beaten, we were 10 people in a corner before we can even say a word. We asked for injured comrades to be taken to the infirmary or hospital. They answered: ‘This is just the beginning’.

The prisoners said they asked to meet with the director of the prison but no reply came. “We wanted to talk with him, but we were always refused. Our families asked to talk to the director but their requests were also rejected. When families said they would not leave without talking to the director, he accepted to meet. The families said that their sons were not alone in prison but the director told them that in fact the prisoners were lying."

Prisoners under constant threat

The prisoners wrote that the prison administration had subjected them to various forms of torture because they refused to stand at the count on 25 September 2018. The prisoners tell of the hell they were put through as they refused to join the count. “We were reversely handcuffed and our legs were tied. Prison director Kazım Kaya and the guards, in front of the cameras, said 'we will make you men’ and handcuffed us to the sponged room. This torture went on from 25 to 28 September - said the prisoners - and when the families and lawyers finally met with us, they filed a criminal complaint to the Ministry of Justice with the Prosecutor General's Office in Düzce."

Call on public opinion

The prisoners said what has been done to them must reach the National Assembly, called on the public and rights organizations to collect their appeal and act. “We are still punished and repressed. - said prisoners - We are put in isolation, and we have been forbidden visits and phone calls we are entitled to.”

Prisoners underlined the danger for their comrades who are on hunger strike and who are not spared repression and torture. “We want the public to be sensitive about this issue - they said - and we want the rights organizations to deal with the matter. We need a team of lawyers, doctors and psychologists to come into the prison as soon as possible."