Ahmet Prençi, commissioner of the Ombudsman’s National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, presented preliminary findings from monitoring police stations, the Security Block and the University Trauma Hospital on October 19. He said the investigation continued.

Police escorted 50 people to stations, including 18 minors. The Security Block held 109 arrested people, including one minor and four women. The Trauma Hospital treated 34 people. The Ombudsman’s office contacted 193 detained, arrested or hospitalised people and received 11 complaints.

Eight minors at Police Station No. 1 alleged physical and verbal abuse. Teams found signs of physical injury on two of them. Other complaints alleged excessive force, unlawful detention and demands to unlock phones without court orders. Prençi also reported officers without visible identification numbers at two police stations.

He warned that overcrowding, a shortage of beds, water, heating and medical care threatened detainees’ basic rights. The Ombudsman called for visible police identification, cameras in interview rooms, legal safeguards for phone searches and child-sensitive procedures for minors. The office will monitor compliance and investigate alleged abuses.

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