Turkish torture generals’ trial at last

This video is called Ending Torture – Turkey.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Right-wing Turkish coup leaders face justice

Wednesday 04 April 2012

by Our Foreign Desk

The two surviving leaders of Turkey‘s 1980 military coup went on trial on Wednesday for the crackdown on civil rights and a spate of executions, torture and disappearances committed under their command.

General Kenan Evren and retired General Tahsin Sahinkaya led the coup and then the Nato member state from 1982 to 1989.

Gen Evren is blamed for the torture of suspected left-wing militants and their supporters and for introducing a constitution that restricted freedoms and formalised the military’s role in politics.

He infamously explained sending dozens of leftwingers to the gallows by asking if people would prefer to “feed those terrorists instead of hanging them?”

In the name of national security Gen Evren shut down parliament, suspended the constitution, imprisoned civilian leaders and disbanded political parties before returning power to civilians three years later.

Around 650,000 people were detained in the days that followed the coup and 230,000 people were prosecuted in military courts, according to official figures.

Three hundred people died in prison, including 171 who died as a result of torture. There were 49 executions.

The coup leaders, both in poor health, have been taken to hospital and did not attend.

Generals Evren and Sahinkaya are charged with crimes against the state and face possible life imprisonment for leading the coup.

Their prosecution was made possible after constitutional amendments passed last year lifted their immunity and allowed them to be brought to trial.