March 10, 2018

AfSV Condemns Turkish Teacher’s Death Under Torture Despite Official Innocence

Gokhan Acikkollu, a 42-year-old history teacher in Turkey, was dismissed from his job and was detained on baseless charges in the aftermath of the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. On August 5, 2016, he died as a result of 13 days of torture and abuse under police custody. Recently on February 27, 2018, it was revealed that he was actually reinstated to his job and that charges against him were dropped. Acikkollu’s life was horrifically taken away solely on the basis of a fabricated evidence. The Alliance for Shared Values condemns this atrocious incident as well as the hundreds of ongoing cases of indictments based on false evidence that result in torture.

The Acikkollu incident is just one example of the plight of thousands of innocent Turkish citizens being unjustly held in prisons. According to Turkish prosecutors, 11,500 were mistakenly investigated based on false evidence as of December 27, 2017. Detainees face torture and ill treatment without being officially interrogated and are not able to find out the exact charges against them. Amnesty International has reported that “police held detainees in stress positions, denied them food, water and medical treatment, verbally abused and threatened them and subjected them to beatings and torture, including rape and sexual assault.”

We urge the international community to demand the Turkish government halt the State of Emergency and bring an end to the unlawful torture and ill treatment of innocent people.

Published on AfSV.org, 2 March 2018, Friday

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