A man arrested in southeastern Turkey was hospitalized with a risk of brain hemorrhage after he was allegedly beaten by gendarmes and jailed before completing medical treatment, Turkish media reported.
The man, identified only by the initials D.K., was taken to Dicle University Hospital on Monday. His lawyer, Berivan Orhan, said he suffered multiple fractures to his spine and head and showed signs of internal bleeding after the beating.
A security report cited by Turkish media said D.K. was injured after falling from a tower when civilians threw rocks, an account his lawyer rejected.
D.K. was detained on January 20 in the border district of Nusaybin in Mardin province after police intervened against protesters who had gathered to condemn attacks by forces linked to Syria’s interim government on the Kurdish-led region in northern Syria known as Rojava.
Videos appearing to show his alleged beating by security forces later circulated online.
After the beating, D.K. was first taken to Nusaybin State Hospital and then transferred to the Mardin Teaching and Research Hospital because of the severity of his injuries, but was discharged and jailed on Friday despite his critical condition after a court in Mardin ordered that he be put in pretrial detention.
D.K. was accused of being a member of and spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization, though reports did not specify which group. Such charges in the region are often tied to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
D.K. was first sent to Mardin E-type Prison and later transferred to a prison in the province of Diyarbakir, but authorities there reportedly refused to admit him due to his medical condition and said he should be hospitalized.
