Five police officers accused of torturing a14-year-old boy in the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakır in southeast Turkey on Tuesday have been arrested, the Diyarbakır Governor’s office announced on Sunday.
The teenager was reportedly abducted and tortured by the police officers after the Newroz (Kurdish new year) celebrations in Diyarbakır. The officers threatened to kill the boy unless he memorised the lyrics of the Turkish anthem, and later dumped him in a lonely spot, allegedly in a stream bed, with his hands and feet tied.
The Diyarbakır Bar Association on Wednesday announced that it has lodged a complaint against the police officers for torture and maltreatment, malicious injury, deprivation of liberty, and threats and abuse.
The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office said in its statement that the boy was treated in hospital, and was discharged on 22 March, that an investigation into the incident was launched on the same day and that five police officers, one of who is a superintendent, have been detained.
It also said that the suspects have been suspended from duty until the end of an administrative investigation into the incident.
