A Turkish court has ruled to arrest the ousted co-mayor of Van’s Edremit Municipality, Rojbin Çetin, who was attacked by police dogs and tortured in her home in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır during a police raid last month, Turkish Minute reported.
Çetin, a member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was arrested as part of a terrorism-related investigation into the Democratic Society Congress (DTK).
“Torture is a crime against humanity, it cannot be legitimized with this decision for arrest,” the HDP tweeted in reaction. “Torturers will be held accountable before justice.”
Çetin was detained on June 26 at her home in Diyarbakır. During the police raid, two police dogs attacked Çetin, and she was tortured in her apartment for three-and-a-half hours, according to statements by HDP officials.
Pictures of her circulated on social media afterwards, showing visible marks of injury in one of her eyes, in her lip and her legs, both of which were allegedly bitten by the dogs during the detention.
Diyarbakır police had denied the allegations in a statement, saying: “A specially trained search dog held the suspect from her right foot and prevented her from running away after she tried to jump over the balcony door [sic]. … To avoid harm to herself and the officers, the suspect was apprehended by the gradual use of force.”
