Handcuffed examination of journalist Müftüoğlu found 'lawful'

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  • 11:50 17 January 2024
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ANKARA - "No prosecution" decisions were made regarding the criminal complaints filed against the handcuffed examination of journalist Dicle Müftüoğlu, who is imprisoned in Sincan Prison, and the harassment suffered by the prisoner Rihan Kavak Özbek.
 
Ill prisoner Rihan Kavak Özbek, who is imprisoned in Sincan Closed Women's Prison, was not taken to the hospital on August 17, when she was going to be taken to Sincan Training and Research Hospital for a momogram, on the grounds that she did not allow the soldiers who wanted to touch her arm.
 
Özbek, who filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office after the incident, stated that she was subjected to harassment and requested a judicial and administrative investigation against the soldiers who prevented her treatment.
 
Ankara West Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested information from the prison administration regarding the incident within the scope of the investigation launched upon Özbek's criminal report.
 
In the response sent, the prison administration claimed that the personnel accompanying Özbek on the day of the incident could not be identified and shared the report written by the gendarmerie personnel on duty. In the report, it was stated that while Özbek was being taken to the hospital, an attempt was made to touch her arm due to safety precautions, and that Özbek was brought back without treatment because she reacted to this situation.
 
'THE MILITARY REPORT WAS TAKEN AS A BASIS'
 
The prosecutor's office decided that there is "no need for prosecution" based on this report of the Gendarmerie.
 
Reacting to the decision, Özbek stated that, as is often the case, the prosecutor's office took the statements of soldiers and guards as basis. Özbek said that the harassment she was subjected to was not included in the gendarmerie report and stated that she would appeal the decision.
 
'CRIME AND GUILTY NOT FOUND'
 
Journalist Dicle Müftüoğlu, who is imprisoned in the same prison, was asked to be taken to the hospital in Sincan Prison Campus in handcuffs, and when she objected to this situation, the doctor in the Internal Medicine department tried to normalize the situation.
 
Following this unlawfulness she was exposed to, Müftüoğlu filed a criminal report with the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor's office, which examined the report, concluded that, in line with the response from the prison, the officers and gendarmerie personnel on duty acted in accordance with the legislation, therefore there was no crime or criminal to be investigated, and decided that "there was no need for prosecution".
 
Dicle Müftüoğlu said that the prosecutor's request for a response from the prison administration instead of the gendarmerie and doctor, who were the parties to the issue, showed that the investigation was carried out properly, and stated that she would appeal the decision. Emphasizing that ill prisoners' right to treatment is being denied, Müftüoğlu stated that their humane right to health is being denied and that this situation is being tried to be ordinary.