Rape convict recorded a podcast from the high-security wing of Cyprus Central Prison

Turkish citizen Taner Tolga Tarlacı, who is serving a sentence in Wing No. 10 of Central Prison in Nicosia, recorded videos directly from his cell and uploaded them to YouTube. Wing No. 10 is the prison’s highest-security unit.

The videos appeared on the platform on 14 and 15 August 2026, but Central Prison management learned about them only almost two weeks later.

In the videos, Tarlacı addresses Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, asking them to intervene to prove his innocence. Before his conviction, he was known for taking part in the television show Survivor.

Tarlacı was sentenced in 2023 by the Permanent Assize Court, which was sitting in Famagusta. He was found guilty of rape, deprivation of liberty for the purpose of sexual abuse and threatening to use force. The victim was a 35-year-old woman, and the crimes were committed in April 2022 in Paralimni.

The convict himself claims that he uses not only his own phone but also the phones of other prisoners — both to post on social media and to speak with his “important friends”. This has raised questions about how mobile communications are controlled in the prison.

The story has received widespread coverage in Turkish and Turkish Cypriot media: Tarlacı alleges racist treatment by the Cypriot justice system and poor detention conditions.