EYLEM SONBAHAR
Two police officers have been sentenced to five months in prison for misconduct in a case where architect Mücella Yapıcı and her daughter Cansu Yapıcı were subjected to a strip-search during their detention. The officers had faced charges of torture, but were ultimately convicted of "misconduct" during the trial's final hearing at the 11th High Criminal Court in Istanbul.
The incident occurred on July 8, 2013, during the Gezi Park protests, when Mücella Yapıcı, a spokesperson for the Taksim Solidarity group, and her daughter were detained along with several others and held at the Istanbul Police Department for four days. The case against the two officers and a detention room supervisor accused of torture has taken over seven years to reach a verdict.
"Multiple rights violations occurred"
Although Mücella and Cansu Yapıcı did not attend the hearing, their lawyer, Gülyeter Aktepe, was present, along with several observers, including attorney Ömer Kavili and Barış Yıldız. Aktepe detailed numerous rights violations during the Yapıcıs’ detention, noting that the case indictment was only prepared seven years after the incident and covered just a portion of the abuses described in their complaint.
Aktepe emphasized that the strip-search was only conducted two hours after the detainees had been processed and placed in cells, and only the women were searched. "If this was a narcotics search as the defendants claim, what was the justification for searching my clients? There was no suspicion of drug involvement. And even if there had been, why was the search limited to women?" she asked.
She argued that the police officers were fully aware that the search was not conducted in accordance with legal procedures and that the actions amounted to torture, not just misconduct.
"The case file is sufficient for a conviction"
Aktepe called for further investigations and the testimony of additional witnesses, stating, "Without this, it will be impossible to reach the full truth. However, if the court rejects our request, the evidence already presented in the case is sufficient for a conviction. We demand that all defendants be punished for the crimes listed in our complaint, that no leniency be granted, and that they be arrested immediately upon sentencing."
Police lawyer: "Our clients are being scapegoated"
One of the defendant officers’ lawyers, S.K.'s attorney, dismissed the strip-search allegations, claiming that the charges were part of an attempt to portray the Yapıcıs as victims to undermine the government. "There is no ill intent or torture involved here. This is an attempt to punish and seek revenge against the government, casting my clients as scapegoats. There is no concrete evidence to support these allegations," the lawyer argued, calling for the officers' acquittal.
Despite these defenses, the court sentenced the two police officers to five months in prison for "misuse of authority." The court did not accept the charge of torture.
