The Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) of the Council of Europe has warned that it continues to receive an alarmingly high number of reports of detainee abuse in Turkish detention facilities.
It noted in a report on a visit conducted in 2019 that the abuse had allegedly been inflicted also on women and children and urged the president to intervene, making it clear that such behaviour would no longer be tolerated.
The CPT pointed out, however, that the seriousness of the abuse had decreased since its previous visit in 2017.
The CPT stressed that the reports collected in 2019, corroborated by medical evidence, included cases of detainees being subjected to kicks, punches, and blows from sticks after the person arrested had already been handcuffed or under control.
The Council of Europe also noted that it continued to receive, as it had in 2019, numerous reports of excessive use of force and abuse by motorised squads operating in Istanbul called ‘Yunus’.
The CPT thus called on the authorities to exercise greater control over these units. (ANSAmed).
