Trial: Massacre of Hunger Striking Political Prisoners in Turkey
39 Turkish gendarmerie officers are now on trial in the case regarding the "return to life" operation which left 30 people dead in Turkish prisons in 2000. The trial is related to the "return to life" operation on 19-22 December 2000. The 'operation' left dead 28 prisoners and two soldiers in 28 prisons, hundreds are injured. The police violently ended the "death fasts" of hundreds of political prisoners in the course of the "return to life" operation.
39 gendarmerie officers on duty in the Bayrampaşa Prison (Istanbul) at the time now stand accused of killing 12 political prisoners and attempted killing of 29 inmates. 28 defendants attended the first hearing.
27 of the 28 defendants who attended the hearing refused to reply to the questions of the complainants' lawyers and claimed that they 'did not know, did not remember' or that they made use of their 'right to silence'.
Most of the defendants stated they had been on duty in the Ümraniye Prison - on the Asian side of Istanbul - and that they did not remember anything regarding that day. They declared that they had not seen any wounded people and that they did not know what they came for.
Münevver Öz Aşçı who was incarcerated in the Bayrampaşa Prison Women's ward at the time, stated under tears, "I remember that person. He had a heavy weapon in his hand. I saw him when we escaped to the air conditioning system. Gray gas from the bombs was coming in through the drain and holes in the roof. The moment we fainted our bodies started to quiver and shake uncontrollably".
"The face of one of our friends was heavily burnt. We brought her downstairs. But we were not able to save the others. We heard the laughter of the soldiers. They told us 'We will burn you all'".
Istanbul - BİA News Center
25 November 2010
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Patrick Mac Manus
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Blog: http://patrickmacmanus.wordpress.com/
