Probe opened into exhibiting suspects: Police chief

ISTANBUL

A probe has been launched into the act of exhibiting suspects by police officers after an operation conducted in Istanbul’s Şişli district.

“We opened a probe on the same day. It is a wrongdoing. Objects used in a criminal act can be displayed, but it is wrong to exhibit individuals in that way,” Istanbul provincial police chief Mustafa Çalışkan told daily Hürriyet’s ombudsman Faruk Bildirici on Jan. 21.

“The bright side of the police department is that it succeeds in eliminating the wrongdoings within itself,” he added.

On Jan. 14, police detained 35 women with suspicion of prostitution during inspections on 12 night clubs in Istanbul’s Şişli district.

In a follow-up search carried out in a flat, police found an unregistered pistol, bullets, cocaine and some other drugs.

Four women and two men detained in the flat were then exhibited along with the illegal objects in Şişli police department.

Daily Hürriyet reported the incident with the headline “Detention exhibition” on Jan. 15. Bildirici also criticized the act in his column on Jan. 21.

The Ankara Bar Association filed a criminal complaint against the police, saying that the presumption of innocence principle had been violated.

“Personal rights have been disregarded by exhibiting individuals as if they are crime objects,” the complaint said.