CAT/C/49/D/389/2009 attack on the village in 1994, the complainant, then aged 18, moved to Gaziantep with his family. 2.2 In August 1995, while the complainant was in a park, talking in Kurdish to three friends from the village, two police cars pulled up beside them. The police officers proceeded to search them and took their identity cards. When the officers realized that they were from Tilkiler, they hit them for no reason, arrested them, and drove them to the police station. In a room at the police station, they beat them with batons. The police officers had told them to wash their hands beforehand in cold water, apparently because this intensifies the pain. 2.3 Some members of the complainant’s family have links with Kurdish resistance movements. In fact, a cousin of the complainant on his father’s side, H.A., used to belong to the guerrilla movement and is currently in prison serving a life sentence following his arrest in 1995. Another of the complainant’s cousins, on his mother’s side, is a member of the guerrilla forces. 2.4 In October 1995, the complainant and his family were arrested again and questioned about H.A., but the family had not had any contact with him for a long time. Following this arrest, the complainant was severely beaten, tortured and held in custody at the police station for a day. 2.5 During his military service from 1996 to 1997, the complainant was ill-treated because he was a Kurd and an Alevi. At one point he was made to do forced labour and was placed in disciplinary detention for 10 days as a punishment for speaking Kurdish over the telephone to his mother, who speaks no Turkish. 2.6 In June 2000, during a military operation in the village, the complainant’s father was arrested in his field. He had his lunch with him and was accused of taking food to a terrorist organization. When the complainant went to Pazarcik police station to find out what was going on, he was arrested and beaten. He was released the next day, but his father remained in custody. 2.7 The complainant is a supporter of the Democratic People’s Party. He carried out propaganda activities and took part in its celebrations and meetings. In June 2001, he visited the Democratic People’s Party premises in Antep for a meeting to commemorate the death of “brothers” in prison. This commemoration had been authorized. When he left, he was arrested by the civil police and taken to Akyol police station, where he was falsely accused of spreading Kurdistan Workers’ Party propaganda. He was also searched, questioned, ill-treated and held in custody for a day. During the 2002 parliamentary elections, the complainant carried out activities on behalf of the Democratic People’s Party and was followed by the police. One of his cousins was a Democratic People’s Party candidate in the elections. 2.8 One night in March 2003, the complainant was called and asked to go visit a certain woman. He thought it was to do with his work as a fashion designer, but in fact it was a trap. He was beaten up by strangers. When the police finally arrived, he was bleeding and they took him to hospital, but he received no treatment. They then took him to Akyol police station where, without prior questioning, he was charged with harassing the woman in question and of being a “terrorist”. Although injured, he was again beaten and had to spend the night in the police station. When, the following morning, he was able to prove to a judge that he had been called by this woman, he was finally released, with the help of a cousin who was a lawyer, and was cleared of any criminal charges. The woman’s family then vowed to take revenge against the complainant, who went into hiding after his release. In June 2003, he moved to Istanbul, where he remained until October 2004. GE.13-40787 3