>17 July 2000, Copyright � Turkish Daily News > >Investigation under way for violent >storming of prison > > Radikal claims that the parliamentary Human > Rights Commission had previously warned officials > about a possible riot in Burdur Prison > > > >Ankara - Turkish Daily News with wire dispatches > >Authorities are investigating whether or not security >forces abused inmates following allegations that one >prisoner was raped and that another lost his arm when >officials stormed a prison to quell an uprising, >reports said over the weekend. > >Military police charged into a prison in the city of >Burdur in southwestern Turkey on July 5 after inmates >barricaded themselves inside their wards to prevent >security forces from taking 11 leftist prisoners to >testify in court. > >Lawyers for the inmates are saying that security >forces used bulldozers to break into the wards, >injuring several of the inmates and causing one >prisoner to lose his arm. A woman inmate was also >raped by prison officials after the standoff, the >dailies Radikal and Yeni Gundem reported. > >The Justice Ministry confirmed that an investigation >had been launched but gave no details. > >Radikal claimed that the parliamentary Human Rights >Commission had previously warned officials about a >possible riot in Burdur Prison. The report prepared >by the commission on last year's Ulucanlar Prison >riot in Ankara included a cautionary note that >serious events may take place if the necessary >precautions are not taken in Burdur Prison. > >Ankara's Ulucanlar Prison was the scene of a bloody >uprising last year which claimed the lives of 10 >inmates. After the incident an investigation was >launched, and some of the inmates were transferred to >Burdur Prison. > >The uprising at Burdur, along with several others in >prisons across Turkey over the past few years, was >sparked by government moves to transfer prisoners >from large, crowded cells to smaller, two- or >three-person rooms. > >Inmates say that the transfers leave prisoners more >vulnerable to beatings and other abuse. > >The government says that the new system is needed to >better control inmates and break up the groups of >Kurdish, leftist and Islamist dissidents which >presently command the wards. > >Meanwhile, members of the Inmate Families' Solidarity >Association have started a hunger strike in Izmir in >an effort to protest the new system in the prisons. >Families are also urging the government to name those >who are really responsible for the Burdur riot. > >-- >Press Agency Ozgurluk >In Support of the Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey and Kurdistan >http://www.ozgurluk.org > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
