E/CN.4/1990/17 page 49 cases of torture allegations which were found suspicious had been referred to the judicial authorities. Of these, 14 had resulted in the conviction of officials charged with torture or ill-treatment and 4 in the aquittal of those concerned due to lack of evidence; in 12 cases the trials were continuing, and 2 cases were still in the phase of investigation. Fifty-seven people had been convicted of torture or ill-treatment in various cases, and some had received penalties of 8 to 10 years. 154. On 19 April 1989 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Government of Turkey concerning the case of Mr. Ali Kent, currently held in Nigde closed prison in Ankara. Mr. Kent was reportedly arrested in September 1986 or thereabouts by the organization known as MIT (National Intelligence Organization), after he lodged a complaint against the son of the former Chief of Staff of Turkey for having allegedly failed to return a rented car to Mr. Kent's agency. He was allegedly tortured for 29 days until he agreed to 6ign a confession to the charge of treason. He was reportedly put on trial on four charges. The trial concerning three of these charges was held at the State Security Court, which found him not guilty, and the trial concerning a fourth charge was held before a military court of the General Staff. There he claimed that his confession had been extracted under torture. But the Court rejected his claim after the prosecutor of the military court - who had allegedly himself taken part in acts of torture pointed out the importance of having a written confession supporting the charge of engagement in treasonable activities prejudicial to the national defence. The Special Rapporteur received a copy of a medical report issued on 17 October 1986, following an examination of Mr. Ali Kent at the Gulhane Military Hospital in Ankara. According to the report, the patient was brought on a stretcher, was unable to walk and had injuries in the forehead, left wrist, left temporal occipital, ankles, feet and parts of the soles of the feet. 155. On 8 May 1989 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Turkey concerning information alleging that three residents of Izmir, named as Arif Akyurtlakci, member of the Izmir branch of the Human Rights Association, Ali Korkraaz and Ugur Demirei, both students, were detained during the last week of April and were being held incommunicado at Izmir police headquarters. According to several persons who had been detained on 1 May and released the following day, the 3 above-mentioned persons and another 10 detainees whose names were not given were being interrogated under torture, which included various forms of suspension, the squeezing of testicles and electric shocks. 156. On 5 June 1989 the Government informed the Special Rapporteur that allegations of ill-treatment concerning the three above-mentioned persons had been examined and found baseless by competent authorities. Medical reports established that they had not been subjected to any kind of ill-treatment during interrogation and detention. 157. On 19 July 1989 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Government of Turkey transmitting information alleging that during the week preceding May Day and the following week hundreds of people were detained in many towns all over Turkey, apparently for activity on behalf of illegal organizations and, in one case, for involvement in two 6hooting incidents in December 1988 and April 1989. Some of those detained who were later released alleged that they had been interrogated under torture in an attempt to extract