Police raid apartment of political prisoner in Hatay

The apartment of political prisoner Hasan Vural in Hatay was stormed last night by a heavily armed special unit of the Turkish police and searched for three hours with absurd justification.

Turkish police stormed the family home of political prisoner Hasan Vural in Dörtyol, Hatay last night. The family members were forced to lie on the floor with weapons drawn. According to the family, there was abuse and insults, and the apartment was searched from midnight until three in the morning.

Hasan Vural has been held in T-Type prison in Mersin’s Tarsus district for five years for political reasons. Police claimed during the raid that someone from his family sent a message that Vural had escaped from prison and was going to blow up the house with a bomb. Vural's son M.N.V., who lives next door, said that a police task force arrived with numerous armored vehicles and entered his parents' home. He himself, he said, was prevented from entering the apartment by a police officer with his gun drawn. "My father has been in prison for five years, and the police know that. It's completely absurd, the whole apartment was turned upside down. They came here as if they were going into battle," said Vural's son M.N.V.