Investigation permission denied: Footage of 'handcuffed torture' against Tayfun Kahraman emerges

Tayfun Kahraman, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Gezi Park Case, was subjected to 'handcuffed torture' while being taken for a routine neurology check-up due to his MS condition.

Although an investigation permission was not granted despite Kahraman's complaint regarding the incident that took place in August, footage of the mistreatment inside the prison vehicle has emerged.

Reporting the footage in his column on T24, Murat Sabuncu recalled that permission for an investigation was denied despite the medical report on the assault and the footage, stating, "Developments regarding this process, and the fact that investigation permission was not granted despite the existing assault report and footage, say a lot about Turkey's system. In fact, the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Justice had initiated steps for an investigation. However, the Silivri District Governorship, during the 'preliminary examination' phase, decided 'not to grant investigation permission' for the officers, claiming that they 'acted within the framework of the powers granted by law and legislation'."

According to what Sabuncu reported, Kahraman's lawyer included the following statements in the complaint petition:

"When the handcuffs were to be applied to the client as usual, the gendarmerie personnel initially applied them so tightly that the client requested the relevant gendarmerie officer to 'loosen the handcuffs as they were applied a bit too tightly and should be normal'. This request was asked by the gendarmerie personnel applying the handcuffs to their superior, and upon the superior not giving a positive response, the handcuffs were tightened even further instead of being loosened. In this manner, the client was taken out of the penal institution and continued the journey with the handcuffs tightening his wrists until a break was taken (approximately 25 minutes). During the break at a gas station, a gendarmerie officer came and said to him, 'the handcuffs must be tight,' and upon the client confirming this and stating that he had explained the situation at the very beginning but was not listened to, and showing the marks caused by the tightening on his wrists, the gendarmerie personnel loosened the handcuffs and returned them to a normal state. It is proven by the in-vehicle camera recordings submitted to the file, the report dated 28.08.2024 kept by the doctor, and the forensic examination report dated 30.08.2024 that the handcuffs were tightened enough to cause physical harm."

The petition stated that the gendarmerie personnel, who were prohibited from entering the examination room, did not leave the room despite the doctor's warnings, and that Kahraman was kept waiting in the vehicle under the sun at noon with the air conditioning system turned off at the Okmeydanı Dental Hospital, where they went with another prisoner.

Noting that Tayfun Kahraman's blood pressure rose and he became unwell, the petition stated, "The client, who did not resist or cause any difficulty to the relevant officers in any way, stated to the gendarmerie personnel upon feeling pain that he was an MS patient, that he did not have the same blood values and muscle structure as normal people, that his blood values were high due to the medications he used, and that he was more fragile against impacts, but these issues were not taken into account in any way, and treatment that would not be appropriate even for a healthy person was applied to the client who is an MS patient."

In the petition, it was requested that the gendarmerie officers be punished for "insult" for calling Tayfun Kahraman a "FETÖ member," for "torture" and "misconduct in office" for causing injury and keeping him waiting under the heat, and for "violation of the privacy of private life" for violating doctor-patient confidentiality.