The execution of judgment has been suspended for four police officers who raped and tortured a woman who was arrested for allegedly aiding the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) in Mardin in 2002.

Following the trial of the police officers at Mardin 2nd High Criminal Court, police officers Bayram Ural, Nazım Ege, Abdülkadir Özer and Hanife Şennur Pak were sentenced to one year in prison each, accused of ill-treatment against the woman, mother of five. The prison sentences were first reduced to 10 months as a result of discretionary extenuation of the court which later suspended the execution of judgment on the grounds that the police officers made the impression that they would not commit a crime again.

The court confirmed the ill-treatment and torture police officers committed against the woman at Mardin police headquarters on 5 March 2002 when she was taken into custody for allegedly acting as PKK's courier. Defending that the defendant's statements shouldn't be esteemed for she allegedly tried to be cleared of blame, the court claimed that the court has obtained no sufficient evidence confirming that the woman was raped by police officers using their batons as well.

In her statement added in the case file, defendant H.A. had said that “Police officers detained me and my husband into custody and took us to Mardin police headquarters. They tied my eyes before they brutally beat us and took us inside. I do not know where they took my husband. I was taken to a detention room where I was made to take all my clothes off. Then they brought my husband to the same room. He was also bare-naked. They later took me to another room where they put a bag on my head, hit me with their batons and tried to put a baton inside my anus. When my hand accidentally hit one of them!s breast, I understood that there was a woman as well. I fainted after bearing the pain for five minutes alone. I was in the hospital when I opened my eyes to see that I had a bleeding in my vagina and anus. After taking me back to the police headquarters, they sent me back to the hospital where I was given an injection three times. I was not treated by another doctor”.

The woman continued saying that “After torturing me in the same way on the second day, they once again took me to Mardin state hospital where I was accompanied by police officers who however didn't let me tell the doctor about my situation. One of the policemen beat me inside the hospital. The prosecutor ruled my arrest but I was not well enough to be put in jail. After I was told that I would not be treated in Mardin, I was taken to Diyarbakır where I could however receive no treatment on the grounds that there was no woman doctor there. I told the prison's prosecutor that I was raped with a baton but my statement wasn't recorded on the reports. One police officer later threatened me with killing me and my husband”.