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  • ANKARA: Torture Death Divides Parties

    TORTURE DEATH DIVIDES PARTIES

    Hurriyet
    Dec 4 2008
    Turkey

    ANKARA - Parliament discussed the human rights situation in Turkey
    yesterday, while a parliamentary commission unanimously adopted a
    report on the death of Engin Ceber by torture that saw a spat of
    words pass between parties.

    During the meeting, a discussion took place between Mehmet Ekinci
    of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and Akın Birdal of the
    pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP.

    Ekici said there was an instruction from the outlawed Revolutionary
    Left, or Dev-Sol, organization that urged resistance to the police
    and said the swelling on Ceber's head while in custody could have
    been caused by such resistance.

    "All of these cases must be investigated and reports must be written
    objectively," he said, and added individuals had responsibilities
    to the state just as the state was in charge of torture and ill
    treatment cases.

    "In the Engin Ceber case there was both an active part and another
    part, in which he was subjected to ill treatment. These two parts
    should be separated from one another and clearly explained in the
    report," he said.

    His remarks drew criticism from Birdal who said torture was a crime
    against humanity in international human rights and humanitarian law. He
    said an individual who was detained during a peaceful demonstration
    had the right to resist. "Human rights law comes out of the legitimacy
    of the right to resistance. Therefore, torture is a crime against
    humanity. This crime can in no way be defended."

    Zafer Uskul, head of Parliament's Human Rights Commission, said the
    state had the right to self-protection. "And therefore, the state
    will protect its self-legitimacy," he added.

    State accepts responsibility Ceber died from injuries he received at
    the Metris Prison in Istanbul. In the first public statement of its
    kind, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Å~^ahin accepted state responsibility
    in the case.

    Meanwhile, Uskul will participate in an international conference in
    the Armenian capital of Yerevan bringing together ombudsmen from
    the Council of Europe and Central Asian countries May. 25 to 26,
    2009. the MHP's Ekici criticized the visit to Armenia.

    --Boundary_(ID_yRFjaPx0uUEv6oktM/feQQ)--

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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