Turkey: Conscientious objector İnan Süver
Call to write solidarity and protest letters
(03.09.2010) War Resisters’ International (WRI) has been informed that Turkish conscientious objector İnan Süver was in hunger strike beginning of September 2010. He ended his hunger strike for health reasons. It is not known to WRI what prompted the hunger strike, and what are the demands.
İnan Süver was detained in Istanbul on 5 August 2010, and has been transferred to the military prison in Izmir on 23 August, where he is presently being held in pre-trial detention. On 24 August, he appeared in front of the Aegean Armed Forces Command Court. The Court confirmed the charges of "infringement of leave" and ordered that İnan Süver remain in pre-trial detention. İnan Süver restated his conscientious objection during the hearing.
According to information published by Amnesty International, İnan Süver has been convicted at least three times on charges of "desertion" and served time in military prison. İnan Süver reported that while serving his prison sentence for desertion at Şirinyer Military Prison in İzmir he was repeatedly severely beaten by prison guards. He has an outstanding sentence of 35 months from three previous convictions for "desertion".
As reported earlier, İnan Süver declared his conscientious objection in a letter to the military authorities in 2009.
War Resisters’ International calls for letters of support to İnan Süver:
İnan Süver, 1. Sınıf Askeri Ceza ve Tutukevi Müdürlüğü, Buca – Şirinyer, İzmir, Turkey
War Resisters’ International calls for letters of protest to the Turkish authorities.
A protest email to the Turkish President Abdullah Gül can be sent at http://wri-irg.org/node/10824.
War Resisters’ International calls for the immediate release of İnan Süver and all other imprisoned conscientious objectors.
War Resisters’ International: Turkey: Conscientious objector İnan Süver on hunger strike, eMail: September 3th, 2010 and September 8th, 2010
Keywords: ⇒ Conscientious Objection ⇒ Desertion ⇒ Imprisonment ⇒ Inan Süver ⇒ Mistreatment ⇒ Turkey