The Diyarbakır Governor's Office declared a written statement two days after the incident, about the physical assault and attacks of the police together with the dogs on Sevil Rojbin Çetin, member of Democratic Local Authorities Board and Free Women's Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA) who was detained in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır with a raid at her home on the evening of June 26. 

 

Arguing that the physical assault and attack by the police was 'insubstantial', The Governor defended the police claiming that they used 'gradual force' to detain Çetin.

 

GRADUAL FORCE!

 

The full text of the statement announced by the The Diyarbakır Governor's Office can be read as follows: "Within the scope of the investigations carried out to decipher the actions and activities of the separatist terrorist organization and to capture the members of the organization throughout our city an operation was carried out on 26.06.2020 in the district of Bağlar in our province in order to capture the person named Sevil ÇETİN, who was sought by the authorized courts of Mardin and Van on charges of being member of the Armed Terrorist Organization and Misconduct in Office. The specially trained search dog, which was outside while the officers were entering the residence prevented the person from escaping by holding on her right foot as she tried to jump from the balcony door, the operation dog was immediately restrained by the trainer, and the suspect was detained by gradual force in order not to harm our officers and herself. There is no deliberate attack by the operation dogs as claimed.

 

A large number of organizational documents were seized in the search made at the residence. The person named Sevil ÇETİN was handed over to Mardin Provincial Police Department officials on 27.06.2020 to carry out the necessary actions on charges of Being a Member of the Armed Terrorist Organization after the necessary actions were taken by the judicial authorities."

 

TJA activist Sevil Rojbin Çetin was tortured for three and a half hours in her apartment as the abuse she suffered was documented with photos taken  under police custody. The anti-terror police units were accompanied by a special unit to Rojbin Çetin's apartment as the entire building was surrounded by hundreds of police. The police, who broke the door with a sledgehammer did not let the the neighbors and the other residents of the building to go out. After the door was broken by the police, two dogs were unleashed upon Rojbin Çetin causing the activist to be bitten in both legs as well as many parts of her body to be badly injured. During the moments of police raid she was subjected to sexual abuse, torture and threats, blindfolded. Moreover, police photographed Rojbin stripped half-naked. It was also reported that police told Rojbin during the raid, "If your apartment was not on the second floor but on the fifth, you would have jumped anyway, then we wouldn't have to do anything."