TJA activist Sümeyye Gök threatened with rape while in custody

After the murder of former village guard Tahir Güven in Şırnak’s Cizre district on 4 December, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu targeted the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in his speech at the General Assembly of the Parliament. After Soylu’s speech, the HDP Cizre district organization building and many houses were simultaneously raided. During the raids, 30 people were detained.

Tevgera Jinên Azad (TJA) activist Sümeyye Gök, who was detained on 8 December in Silopi as part of the same operation, was remanded in custody on 15 December. It was stated that Gök was subjected to a strip search and battered by the police during her detention, and that police tried to convince her to work as an informer. Gök was removed from the courthouse and filmed by a police camera. It is reported that Gök, who did not accept to become an informer, was subjected to ill-treatment, and her lawyer filed a criminal complaint about what happened.

What happened to Gök in custody

Gök’s lawyer, Haşim Toğurlu, said: “Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu carried out an extrajudicial execution in the Parliament. The police are doing their best to ensure that this extrajudicial execution is consistent and fulfilled. The police pretend that all evidence and practices are prejudicial. For example, the presumption of innocence is a constitutional right. Everyone is innocent until proved guilty. But right now, the opposite is happening. My client was treated as if she was a notorious murderer. Both in the courthouse and in the police station, she was harassed and treated as if she had killed village guard Tahir Güven. She was subjected to very heavy pressure.”

Stating that she had a meeting with her client in prison after she was arrested, lawyer Toğurlu said: “She was threatened by the police during the meeting and the police openly threatened her. They told her that if she didn’t accept to be strip searched, male police officers would be sent in.”

Toğurlu said that they talked to the prison administration about what happened, but they denied what happened. We went to the General’s office and filed a criminal complaint.”