A Kurdish seasonal worker in Turkey who said he was brutally abused by his employers has criticized the judicial process for dragging on for five years, saying it has taken a heavy toll on his mental health, the Aktif Haber news website reported.
Vedat Kurt, 22, claimed he was subject to abuse for three days in 2020 after moving to Antalya as a seasonal worker. He said he was tied up, locked in a room where his teeth were broken, his body was cut and he was forced to eat cockroaches while restrained, with photographs of him lying injured on the floor taken by the perpetrators.
The incident unfolded when Kurt discovered he hadn’t received his full wages and confronted his employers, claiming he was owed a significant amount of money. After being rejected, Kurt, in frustration, took money from his employers’ desk but later decided to return it. Upon discovering the theft, his employers responded with brutal abuse.
After his employers let him go, Kurt filed a complaint but did not obtain a medical report at the time linking his injuries to the abuse. He recently received a report from Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK), which stated that the injuries could not be directly tied to the abuse. The report, however, was based on photographs of his condition after the incident and healed injuries, rather than an examination of his actual injuries.
In the latest hearing at the Antalya 6th Penal Court, Kurt submitted the forensic report, only for his case to be postponed once again. Kurt noted that his case, which has been ongoing for five years, had seen 12 hearings. He also presented the photos of himself taken by his employers to the court.
“What more does the court need,” he said. “This torture case has been ongoing for five years. The cruelty I endured is not just an ordinary crime. I am a person whose tooth was broken while a cockroach was forced into my mouth with pliers. I want to believe in justice.”
