Emine Ocak was beaten, subjected to electric shocks and hanged by the wrists. Moreover, the Turkish government takes deliberate steps to prevent the violations committed by its security forces from being revealed to the Turkish public or the international community. They all alleged they were tortured while in custody, including sexual harassment and threats of rape. They are protected by police and gendarmerie officers of high rank, by prosecutors, by the courts, by Turkish law itself, and by the silence of the international community. It would not be true to say that human rights violators are never prosecuted.
Prosecutions do take place, and there have been convictions.
Mediha Curabaz, a nurse, was raped with a truncheon adapted to deliver electric shocks while in detention at Adana Police Headquarters in August 1991, for which she won a small sum of compensation in her civil suit. However, from the very little information provided by the government, it is apparent that that the number of prosecutions taken on allegations of torture is low, and the number of convictions lower still. The climate of impunity created by the relative small number of convictions remains possibly the single largest obstacle to reducing unlawful killing, torture, and other human rights abuses. Glay Aday, arrested on accusations of being a member of the Turkish Liberation Army of Peasants and Workers, reported that she had been tortured, including electric shocks, during her detention. The serial numbers of the police officers who carried out the interrogation appeared on her statements, and evidence of torture was submitted to the court.