VIDEO: Surveillance camera turns away as police beat civilian during Gezi protest

ESKİŞEHİR

The footage was recorded on June 1, 2013, in Eskişehir.

New video footage recorded during the Gezi protests of 2013 has surfaced, revealing how a surveillance camera operated by the municipality (MOBESE) turned away as two police officers started beating an individual in the middle of an empty street during security crackdowns.

The footage recorded on June 1, 2013, in Eskişehir - the same date and location where Ali İsmail Korkmaz was beaten to death - has emerged as part of a trial of a Georgian student who was partially paralyzed due to injuries inflicted with a police baton.

No video recording showing the violence administrated to the student was obtained, but the municipality’s video recordings of the area showed how the cameras were diverted when officers abused civilians.

The recording shows a man being pulled by another civilian, or a plainclothes police officer, before being assaulted by three police officers. The surveillance camera clearly records one of the officers punching the victim and a second one administrating a blow with his baton, before it turns away as the scuffle continues.

Police have failed to provide surveillance camera footage in a number of investigations into police violence in Turkey, often arguing that the cameras were out of order or failed to record the moment when the incidents happened. Such examples have led to accusations that the authorities act with impunity and fail to conduct effective investigations.