10 Policemen Convicted of Torturing Teenagers

Ten policemen in Manisa, Turkey, were convicted of torturing teenagers for putting up leftist posters and were sentenced to at least five years in prison, media reports said.

The case began when 15 leftist activists, ages 14 to 18, were arrested in 1995 for putting up political posters in Manisa. Their lawyers said the youths were beaten, shocked, hosed down with pressurized water and sexually abused. The youths’ convictions for membership in leftist organizations were overturned by an appeals court that said their confessions were extracted under torture.