Zeki Güven, the former intelligence chief of the Ankara Police Department who was arrested by a Turkish court in May as part of the Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement, was found dead in his bed at Sincan No 1 F Type Prison on Sunday.
According to reports in the Turkish media, Turkish authorities have started an investigation into the suspicious death of Güven.
Güven had been dismissed from his latest position as assistant chief of police in Bolu over alleged links to the Gülen movement in 2015, and later a detention warrant was issued on accusations of being an “executive member of a terrorist organization.” Güven and his wife, Judge Sevda Güven, were detained on May 22, 2018 at a shopping mall in Eskişehir province over alleged links to the Gülen movement.
According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, detention warrants issued by Ankara’s 2nd, 4th and 14th high criminal courts were outstanding for Zeki Güven over his alleged involvement in the revelation of a sex scandal concerning Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal in 2010. Judge Sevda Güven is also reportedly wanted over alleged membership in the Gülen movement.
He did not have the opportunity to appear in court in a case that includes an accusation of involvement in the revelation of the sex scandal concerning Baykal.
According to the official statement, Zeki Güven died from a heart attack; however, given the previous incidents and deaths in Turkish prisons, his death is being viewed as suspicious.
The Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) reported in one of its studies titled “Suspicious Deaths and Suicides In Turkey” that there has been an increase in the number of suspicious deaths in Turkey, most in jails and detention centers, where torture and ill-treatment are being practiced. In the majority of cases, authorities concluded they were suicides without any effective, independent investigation.
Suspicious deaths have also taken place beyond prison walls amid psychological pressure and threats of imminent imprisonment and torture, sometimes following the release of suspects or just before their detention.
