A 37-year-old man from the town of Doğubayazıt in the Kurdish province of Ağrı argued with an imam in front of a mosque. The police were called in and took both men to the local police headquarters, where the discussion continued. The man ended up in a detention cell because he allegedly slapped the cleric in the face. Shortly afterwards, he died. He is said to have strangled himself with his cardigan, according to the official version.

The case, made public by the Mezopotamya (MA) news agency, occurred on Friday. The dead man is Ahmet Bugrur, father of three children. His brother Resur Bugrur told MA: "We don't know what could have caused the alleged quarrel with the imam. At around 8 am, I received a call from the police station. I was told that Ahmet had been taken into custody. I went there immediately, but none of the officers gave me any information. At around 10 am, other family members and relatives arrived in front of the police station. We waited for information about the reasons for my brother's arrest. About 30 minutes passed, then an ambulance drove up. Another half an hour later, a hearse arrived. Shortly afterwards, we were told that Ahmet had hanged himself with his cardigan."

Bugrur's relatives then demanded to speak to the officers on duty and to view footage from the CCTV cameras in the station and custody area. "The police stated that there were no officers on duty in the area at the time of the incident," said Resul Bugrur. He stated that the inspection of the video footage was refused without giving any reason. "A paramedic we were able to speak to only told us that Ahmet was already dead when the ambulance arrived. In addition, we were able to learn that a person who was said to have been in the neighbouring cell at the time of the incident was taken away head over heels." It is unclear who this person is.

The detention cell in which Ahmet Bugrur is said to have taken his own life was examined by forensics "after the victim was found", according to the police headquarters in Doğubayazıt. The Kurdish man's body was taken to the forensic medicine department of the training and research hospital in Ağrı for a post-mortem examination. "Even though bruises and haematomas were found on the neck, no clear cause of death could be determined," reads the preliminary autopsy report, which MA was able to view. The Institute of Forensic Medicine in Amed (Diyarbakır) will now clarify the cause of death.

Ahmet Bugrur was buried yesterday evening at the Koçkıran cemetery in Doğubayazıt. His family, meanwhile, who do not believe in the suicide theory presented, had filed a complaint against the Turkish police.

The Baran Tursun Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Izmir in western Turkey, has documented hundreds of deaths in custody or due to police violence since 2007. Ahmet Bugrur is "case number 435" according to their statistics. However, the foundation suspects that the number of unreported cases is much higher, as not all cases are made public.