Prosecutors seek one year in jail for police officers accused of torture, eight years for victim

ISTANBUL

The footage of the beating obtained by Turkish media sparked a huge outcry and led to a judicial process, which is still ongoing.

Prosecutors have asked for between 1.5 months and 13 months in prison for two of three police officers standing trial for beating and torturing a woman while in custody, while asking for the acquittal of a third officer, daily Milliyet reported June 6.

The victim Fevziye Cengiz, meanwhile, faces up to eight years and nine months on charges of “insulting the police” and “resisting on-duty officers.”

Cengiz was taken into custody during a police inspection at a music hall in İzmir three years ago for allegedly not carrying any identification, working without a permit and resisting the police.

Once taken into custody, she was savagely beaten by three police officers in a room filled with cameras. The footage obtained by Turkish media sparked a huge outcry and led to a judicial process, which is still ongoing.

The prosecutor conducting the investigation, Göksel Er, also refused to describe in the indictment the beating as “torture,” but claimed that officers acted after being subjected to an “unfair provocation.”

“In the incident the suspect officers have not committed this crime with the intention of inflicting torture, but due to anger for being insulted,” Er said.

Er pressed charges of “exceeding the limits regarding the competence of using force” and “minor injury” on the two police officers who are seen beating Cengiz for hours in the footage.

An officer who prevented the beating from being seen outside by closing the curtains of the room was also charged with aiding and abetting a crime and faces between six and nine months of prison.

He also stressed in the indictment that Cengiz was under the influence of alcohol when the incident took place.

The prosecutor’s indictment comes amid global criticism of the impunity of police officers over the Gezi protests. Lawyers say that officers committing abuse are protected by their own department and prosecutors, particularly in the latest cases against victims who were killed due to the use of force during police crackdowns.