ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Following an Istanbul-based investigation launched against members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Youth Council on 8 November, 36 youth members were detained and 21 were arrested, while 14 youth were referred to the court demanding judicial control measures.
Ten of 36 young people who were referred to Istanbul 1st and 2nd Magistrate Criminal Judiciary on the allegation of “membership of an illegal organisation,” were arrested and sent to prison. While 1 young person was released by the prosecution, 25 young people were released on the condition of judicial control.
The names of the ten detained members of youth are Nihat Demir, Merdal Bahadir, Livan Orman, Metin Yilmaz, Alaaddin Adanir, Muhammet Erkmen, Tuncay Dogdan, Gulistan Yilmaz, Zehra Aslan and Yunus Altun.
Those who were released by the court were greeted by HDP and family members waiting outside, chanting the slogan “Pressure cannot intimidate us.”
On 8 November, 36 young people were detained in the Istanbul-based investigation against HDP Youth Council members. 36 young people were detained for 4 days legally, and a further 4 days as an extension.
Metin Yılmaz, one of the detainees, had been subjected to torture in a room without a camera because he refused to accept a naked search after being taken to the courthouse.
According to the lawyers of the youth members, the youth had been taken to the hospital by the prison guards to obtain a health report, which is a procedural obligation. In the assesment room, the youth had complained that their wrists had been bruised due to excessive tightening of handcuffs yet, the doctor had told the youth to get out of the room.
The lawyers stated that the bruises caused by the handcuffs were not reported and that the youth had been removed from the hospital without being examined, and that despite all the warnings they had made, their clients had been removed from the courthouse by reverse handcuffs.
