The family and lawyers of a man who died in an Istanbul hospital 12 days after a court jailed him pending trial are seeking an independent investigation into how he suffered extensive injuries while in state custody and whether he received timely medical treatment.
At an Istanbul news conference reported Sunday by the Bianet news website, Özcan Aksu’s family and representatives of legal and human rights groups said his sister found him badly bruised and swollen when she visited him at the Marmara Prison complex near Istanbul, commonly known as Silivri Prison, on June 26. The news conference was held at the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and attended by representatives of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) and the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD).
Aksu had been detained by plainclothes police on June 22, jailed pending trial the following day and died at a hospital on July 5. No definitive cause of death or official explanation for his injuries has been made public.
The family’s lawyers filed a criminal complaint seeking an independent forensic examination, the preservation of police, prison, hospital and prisoner-transport records and the questioning of officials involved in Aksu’s detention and medical care. It was not immediately clear what offense he was suspected of having committed or on what grounds the court ordered him jailed.
In a detailed account published by İlke TV, Aksu’s sister, Melek Aksu, said the family was not officially informed when he was detained or jailed and initially struggled to determine where he was being held.
She went to Silivri Prison on June 25 but was not allowed to see him. Officials told her that Aksu was in a hospital but did not identify which one, she said.
Melek Aksu was permitted to see her brother through a glass partition the following afternoon. She said his face was badly bruised, his right eye was swollen, his upper lip was injured and he had blood in his hair and around his neck. She also described an injury to one forearm.
Aksu was trembling, repeatedly sat down and stood up and appeared unable to understand where he was or how to use the telephone in the visiting area, his sister said. He initially did not recognize her.
When she asked who had beaten him, Aksu pointed toward prison guards standing behind him, she said. Melek Aksu said a guard told her that her brother had arrived at the prison in that condition. Her account and her interpretation of the gesture could not be independently verified.
The family’s lawyers said officials had claimed that Aksu tried to escape during a hospital transfer and resisted an officer. According to Bianet, the lawyers said authorities had not disclosed where the alleged incident occurred, whether it was recorded or what documents supported the claim.
Melek Aksu said she believed her brother sustained further injuries after the June 26 visit. His nose did not appear broken when she saw him but seemed to be broken when the family later received his body, she said. She also described a wound near his left eyebrow that she had not previously seen.
The family continued to receive conflicting information about Aksu’s location. When relatives arrived for a scheduled visit on June 30, prison officials initially said he was in his cell and asked them to return later that afternoon. When they returned, they were told he was at a hospital.
Aksu spent about two days at Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Teaching and Research Hospital in Istanbul before his family was informed of his death at about 11 a.m. on July 5.
Relatives collected his body from Turkey’s state-run Council of Forensic Medicine in Istanbul and said they observed additional bruising and injuries. The family photographed the injuries before Aksu was buried in the eastern province of Muş.
The lawyers asked prosecutors to preserve surveillance footage from police holding cells, prisons, medical facilities and transport vehicles. They also called for police officers, prison guards, administrators, medical personnel and any prisoners who may have witnessed the events to be questioned.
