Turkish forces 'let inmates burn'

Inmates were allowed to burn to death

A report by the Council of Europe has sharply criticised Turkish security forces, accusing them of serious abuses when they forcefully ended a hunger strike by prisoners last December.

The Council's anti-torture committee expressed grave concerns about their actions at a women's detention centre where, it said, security forces set fire to a dormitory and then stood by as inmates burnt to death.

The methods employed by the security forces were not in all cases proportional to the difficulties faced

Council of Europe anti-torture committee

The preliminary report alleges the same officers fired bullets and gas grenades at the women prisoners even though they offered no resistance to moves to end their hunger strike.

Twenty-nine inmates and three soldiers died when troops stormed 20 prisons across the country in a security operation. Some of the prisoners set themselves on fire, others died in the clashes.

The Council - which has often criticised Turkey's record on prisons - acknowledged that the security forces had, in cases, faced opposition from prisoners when they tried to break up the protests.

The inmates were protesting against plans to move them to modern maximum security jails which they said would isolate them and make them more vulnerable to police brutality.

Grenade attack

But in its report the anti-torture committee says the information it gathered during visits to the prisons suggests that "the methods employed by the security forces were not in all cases proportional to the difficulties faced."

The security operation left 32 dead

According to the document, this was the case at the women's detention centre in Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison, where six out of 27 inmates died of their burns.

In spite of offering no resistance, it is alleged the women "were bombarded with gas grenades and other devices for several hours and shot at from time to time."

"The top floor of the dormitory was set on fire as a result of the action being taken by the security services," says the report.

The Council's visiting delegation also said it found medical evidence to back numerous allegations of beatings handed out by prison officers after they had regained control of the jails.

The 43-nation Council of Europe has repeatedly criticised Turkey's treatment of prisoners in recent years, saying certain forms of torture are still widespread.

The European Union has endorsed the work of the Council and told Turkey it should improve its human rights record if it wishes to become a member state.