Torturers will face justice sooner or later

IHD Amed Branch Anti-Torture Commission member, lawyer Yakup Güven confirmed that dogs were used as torture weapons in recent house raids. The lawyer stated that they started a legal process about that.

The Turkish state's torture and repression policies towards Kurds continue and implement new or unused methods every day. In Amed, the police raided the house of the Seyhmus-Menice Yılmaz couple with search dogs on 30 May, when police officer Atakan Arslan was killed.

Sevil Rojbin Çetin, a member of the HDP Board of Local Governments and TJA activist, who was detained following a raid on her house on 26 June, was also subjected to torture using dogs. The criminal complaints and legal proceedings of Çetin's lawyers continue.

Lawyer Yakup Güven talked to ANF about what it means to torture people using dogs and how to initiate a legal process. Drawing attention to the 10-year torture report of the various IHD branches, lawyer Güven recalled sevearl stories of violence and torture of people detained in the street, or while in custody, or again in the detention vehicles, in the countryside, at home, and especially in prisons. In the recent months, lawyer Güven said, “the latest method is to go to the house of people with a dog to carry out the arrest. There have been three cases of torture while carrying out an arrest involving dogs. There were cases of torture where dogs were used as direct tool of violence. This was not something that we often encountered before."

Stating that physical torture methods have been used heavily in recent events, lawyer Güven continued: “This can cause serious damage. In fact, the dog has no reason to be present during an arrest. There is no benefit to the police if the dog is there. Therefore, we have to assume that the dog is brought to the house raids with the purpose of being used for torture. As the Human Rights Association, we observe that a new method of torture has been tried.”

Lawyer Güven added: "Last week we have had meetings with all the civil society organizations working in our city. We intend to provide continuous communication with the state's authorized institutions in order to prevent these incidents from happening. We reiterate that torture is a crime of humanity. Today, the person or institution that carries out torture can be rewarded with impunity, but should not think this impunity will last forever. The perpetrator of torture will always face the prospect of trial for torture."