FORMER MP DISCUSSES ROLE IN MANISA TORTURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003154

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE


E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2008
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU
SUBJECT: FORMER MP DISCUSSES ROLE IN MANISA TORTURE
CONVICTION


REF: ANKARA 2246 AND PREVIOUS


Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.5 b and d.



1. (C) Summary: Sabri Ergul, one of the prosecuting attorneys
in the high-profile Manisa police torture case, used his
status as a parliamentarian to maintain pressure on the GOT
and ensure the 10 defendants were convicted and sentenced.
Ergul served as a witness in the case, having seen some of
the teenage victims while they were being tortured in
detention. After the conviction, he hung a banner calling on
PM Erdogan to see that the officers were arrested and jailed.
In addition to such efforts, Ergul credits a fact-based
prosecuting strategy and international pressure for the
conviction. End Summary.



2. (C) The Manisa trial ended April 4 (reftel) after seven
and a half years when an appeals court upheld the conviction
of all 10 police defendants, who were sentenced to prison
terms ranging from five to 11 years. After the trial, we
requested an appointment with Ergul, one of the prosecuting
attorneys and a former Republican Peoples' Party (CHP) MP.
Ergul gave us a detailed account of his involvement in the
case. His story is consistent with what we know about these
events, and we consider it highly credible.


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By Chance, Ergul Involved From Day One
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3. (C) Ergul recalled that in December 1995 a woman who had
worked on his parliamentary campaign called him, upset that
her younger brother was among 16 teenagers detained and taken
to the Manisa police detention center. At her request he
went to see the teenagers. As a lawyer, he said, he had no
clear right at that time to see the detainees, though the GOT
had issued a circular recommending lawyers be given access
(Note: Lawyers have the right to immediate access today under
recent reforms. End Note). But as an MP, he was not going
to take no for an answer. He demanded access, and was sent
back and forth between the prosecutor's and police chief's
offices. Eventually, Ergul said, he convinced the prosecutor
to call the police chief as Ergul stood by. When he arrived
at the detention center, the police chief sent him upstairs
to see the director of the Anti-Terror Department, where the
teenagers were being held. But when he got there, the
director and his assistants had gone, apparently assuming he
would eventually give up and leave as well. However, Ergul
convinced the guard on duty to let him wait in the director's
office for his return.



4. (C) From the office, Ergul could hear screams partly
muffled by loud music. He followed the sound to a door,
which he opened and saw a young girl on the floor, naked
except for a blanket held against her body. There was
another teenager on the floor and two more sitting on chairs.
An officer in the cell tried to shove the door closed, and
Ergul angrily shoved back. During the confrontation, the
guard, pointedly referring to Ergul as "Mr. Parliamentarian,"
said the director was available to meet him. At that point,
Ergul said, he decided he would use his skills as a lawyer
and status as an MP to prosecute the case.


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Doctors Confirm Torture Claims
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5. (C) Ergul arranged for a group of doctors expert at
identifying signs of torture to examine the detainees, most
of whom were age 14-16. The doctors found physical evidence
to support the teenagers' accounts of being beaten, given
electric shocks, and raped with truncheons. Interviewed
separately, the teenagers told similar stories of torture.
For example, several said police gave them electric shocks
through a ring on the right toe; doctors said a ring on the
left toe could damage the heart. Many recounted that police
administered shocks to the hairy parts of the body and threw
water on them during the torture -- techniques the doctors
said were commonly used to avoid telltale marks.


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Maintaining the Pressure
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6. (C) Ergul said he knew he would have to maintain
consistent pressure in order to ensure the police were
convicted and sentenced. At the start of the trial he sent a
case file to then PM Ciller, and when he got no response he
hung a copy on the door of the PM's office. Inspired by
traditional signs on businesses with messages like "In This
Establishment There is Bread," Ergul hung a sign on the
Manisa detention center declaring, "In This Establishment
There is Torture." After the April 4 conviction, Ergul
continued to follow through to ensure that the GOT fulfilled
its duty to round up the convicts and incarcerate them. On
the morning after the verdict, he hung a banner on his
balcony with a message for his neighbor, PM Erdogan: "The
Court Did Its Job, Now It's Your Turn." Pictures of Ergul
standing by the banner appeared in newspapers. When Ergul
learned that several of the convicted officers were staying
in a police guest house in Ankara, he threatened to send the
media over unless they surrendered, which they did. He also
contacted the Embassy to make sure none of the convicts could
be given visas. To date, nine of the 10 officers have turned
themselves in; there is an arrest warrant for the tenth,
Engin Erdogan.


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Teenagers Acquitted on Terror Charges
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7. (C) As for the teenagers, they were arrested and charged
with being members of the Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary
People's Party (DHKP/C),a terrorist organization. Ergul
said they were accused of writing pro-DHKP/C graffiti,
although their graffiti involved nothing more threatening
than statements like, "Down with University Tuition," a
protest against a recent decision to begin charging tuition
at public universities. Later, he said, prosecutors tried to
trump up the charges by blaming them for a barbershop fire.
But that strategy fell through when an investigation revealed
a faulty stove as the cause of the blaze. The teenagers were
all acquitted in court, despite having confessed under
torture, but remained in detention during their trials for
periods ranging from seven months to 2.5 years. Ergul said
he tried to get the cases against the teenagers dropped in
light of the evidence of torture, but his efforts were
rejected.


-------------- -
Fact Based Prosecution, International Interest
-------------- -



8. (C) Ergul said he and other prosecuting attorneys were
careful to avoid politicizing the case. In public
statements, and in court, they focused on the evidence at
hand and did not try to depict the torture suffered by the
teenagers as part of a broader human rights crisis. Ergul
believes that strategy helped maintain public support, and
pressure, for a conviction. He also said U.S. and European
pressure on the GOT helped ensure a conviction.


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Comment
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9. (C) The Manisa case has been around for so long that
attention shifted years ago from the suffering of the victims
to the prosecution of the criminals. Ergul's account reminds
us why cases like these are so important, and underscores the
need for Turks and outside observers to insist that Turkish
authorities punish torturers.
PEARSON