Turkish court acquits policemen charged with torturing children

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

   ISTANBUL, March 11 (AFP) - A Turkish court on Wednesday  
acquitted ten policemen charged with torturing a group of high 
school students, the Anatolia news agency reported. 
   The criminal court in the western Turkish town of Manisa ruled  
unanimously that there was insufficient evidence for the accusations 
against the policemen. 
   The case has become a symbol for human rights violations in  
Turkey. 
   The Turkish Court of Appeals in January overturned the students'  
conviction for membership in an outlawed left-wing group. It cited a 
sloppy investigation. 
   The students, aged 14 to 19 years at the time of their arrest in  
December 1995, had been sentenced to prison terms of up to twelve 
and a half years by a State Security Court following their arrest 
for allegedly writing leftist slogans on traffic signs and similar 
misdemeanours. 
   They had argued in court that their confessions were extracted  
under torture, a claim that was supported by hospital records. 
    A public outcry and pressure from human rights groups and the  
students' families triggered the trial of the policemen. 
   But the trial dragged on for years, with the defendants failing  
to show up time after time. 
   And in a surprising reversal in February the prosecutor dropped  
his original demand for prison sentences adding up to 700 years for 
the ten officers and asked for acquittal of several defendants and a 
total of 39 months in prison for the rest instead. 
   The students' lawyer, Sabri Ergul, expressed outrage at the  
acquittal of the policemen. 
   "The court's false decision will be overturned by the Court of  
Appeals," he said. 
  	   	

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
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