AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: WIDESPREAD USE OF TORTURE STILL CONTINUING IN TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.07.2007 13:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Widespread use of torture is continuing in Turkey
despite the government’s "zero tolerance" policy, says human rights
group Amnesty International.
A new report acknowledged improvements in the Turkish criminal justice
system in recent years.
But Amnesty said a "culture of impunity" allowed the authorities to
escape accountability and the courts to disregard medical evidence
of torture.
There has been no immediate response from the Turkish government.
The Amnesty report, published on Thursday, noted a fall in the
incidence of torture in police custody.
But it also said the declared zero-tolerance policy could not be seen
as effective "until real steps are taken to address the persisting
issue of the failure to punish officials who violate the absolute
prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment."
According to Amnesty, detainees in Turkey alleged they had been
beaten, threatened with death, deprived of food, water and sleep
during detention.
Some of the torture was said to have taken place in unofficial places
of detention.
The head of Amnesty’s program in Europe, Nicola Duckworth, said:
"Nothing short of a fully implemented policy of ‘zero tolerance for
impunity’ will end the specter of torture, other ill-treatment,
killings and enforced disappearances which still blight Turkey’s
human rights record."
Turkey introduced a series of sweeping changes several years ago to
the country’s penal code, intended to bring Turkish laws closer to
those of EU member states.
Torture was abolished and individual liberties expanded under the
reforms.
Human rights are a key issue in its bid to join the EU, BBC reports.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
