Former police officer accused of murder through torture arrested

İsmail Saymaz ISTANBUL – Radikal

Former deputy police chief Ahmet Okuducu, sought with a red notice for the death of union member Süleyman Yeter in a police station while in custody in 1999, was captured at a house in the Black Sea province of Samsun June 12 and arrested by the court, daily Radikal reported.

Okuducu, wanted since 2000, opened the door himself when the police knocked. A court ruled for the arrest of Okuducu, one of three police officers accused of torturing Yeter in custody for two days.

Yeter, the educational expert of Limter Union – a member of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) – had been taken into custody March 5, 1999 in an operation against the outlawed Turkish Communist Party - Marxist-Leninist Liberation Party (MLKP) and was killed on March 7, 1999.

Okuducu told the Istanbul 6th Criminal Court June 24 that he had questioned Yeter between March 5 and 7, 1999, but denied torturing him. After 2.5 to 3 hours of questioning, Yeter fainted and hit his head on the table as he fell to the ground, Okuducu told the court. Okuducu said he had performed CPR on Yeter and took him to the hospital. He said Yeter had been breathing when he was hospitalized.

The head of the court noted the forensic medicine report from that time said Yeter had been tortured.

Okuducu said the forensic medicine rapporteur was Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a member of Yeter’s organization.

Okuducu also said he had been in his hometown throughout the years he was wanted and had never been abroad during that time.

The Istanbul 6th Criminal Court decided to arrest the other two police officers, Mehmet Yutar and Erol Erşan on Nov. 29, 1999. The two surrendered and Yutar was sentenced to four years and two months in prison on April 1, 2003.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) fined Turkey 110,000 euros, to be awarded Yeter’s family Jan. 13, 2009 for violating the European Convention on Human Rights Article 2, the “right to life.”