 |
200 demonstrators demand answers from Swedish police
According to police reports, Sercan Budakçı was found unconscious in his detention cell on July 9 after having hanged himself while being held at the Handen police station in Haninge. He later died at a hospital.
Budakçı was reportedly arrested for having splashed water on a bus driver during a dispute.
But Budakçı’s family and their civil attorney Mattias Bernhardsson argue the police, who refuse to release pertinent documents and answer questions concerning the arrest and death, are covering up what really happened on July 9.
According to Bernhardsson, who is also a city counselor for the Socialist Justice Party in Haninge, more than 200 family members, friends, media representatives and concerned citizens joined the demonstration on Wednesday.
The frustrated crowd gathered to demand transparency and answers from the police, Bernhardsson and Budakçı’s family told Today’s Zaman on Thursday. “We demand to know who beat my brother,” Selda Budakçı said.
Police reports indicate “no visible injuries” were found on Budakçı’s body, but the Board of Forensic Medicine’s report and photographs from the forensic autopsy argue otherwise, Bernhardsson said.
Sercan Budakçı’s mother, Zöhre Dudakci Budakçı, described to the demonstrators her last conversation with her son. “The police hit me with a baton. I feel like my brain is leaking out,” she quoted her son as saying.
Selda Budakçı said she was pleased with the turnout, but not with the results. “For us, the demonstration was bittersweet because they did not give us any answers. The police told us before the demonstration they would give us answers. But yesterday, they said we would have to schedule a meeting with them,” she said.
Journalist and writer Kurdo Baksi, one of the most prominent Kurdish intellectuals in Sweden, addressed the crowd during the demonstration. Not only did he offer his support, he also said he would demand the minister of justice take action on the case. Selda Budakçı said she and her family may be frustrated, but they will not give up. “We will continue to demonstrate until we have answers. We will bring more people next time,” she said.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BÜLENT KENEŞ |  |
||
| What befell Niyazi-i Misri in the past is happening to Fethullah Gülen now | |||
| EKREM DUMANLI |  |
||
| When a call for fairness and reason finds acceptance | |||
| ŞAHİN ALPAY |  |
||
| Uludere, test case for democracy in Turkey | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Are the Kurds mentally divorced from Turkey? | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| Taking lessons from previous experiences with the military | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| Qualm | |||
| ÖMER TAŞPINAR |  |
||
| A new phase in Syria? | |||
| İHSAN DAĞI |  |
||
| Turkish foreign policy: Time for a re-evaluation | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
| BERK ÇEKTİR |  |
||
| Changes to incentives for investment in Turkey | |||
| MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK |  |
||
| The 1960 coup: a final test for democracy | |||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
