MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed - Turkey’s Ministry of Justice continues to remain silent about the deaths of sick prisoners and the ongoing rights violations in prisons. While the prisoners in Van and Tekirdağ prisons have held a hunger strike to protest rights violations they have faced, the Justice Vigil carried out by the relatives of prisoners in Amed (Diyarbakır), Van and Izmir provinces have begun to spread across Turkey. Lawyer Seda Zengin, a member of the Lawyers Association for Freedom (ÖHD) Prisons Commission in Diyarbakır, said that the current situation in prisons has caused a serious violation of the right to live for prisoners. “The message given to the prisoners is that ‘we can play with your health and your existence in an arbitrary way.’  National and international organizations should immediately take a step against ongoing rights violations against prisoners,” Seda Zengin told JINHA.

“Repressive practices have increased”

Underlining that the negative and repressive practices intensifying in Turkey’s prisons have recently been felt more, Seda Zengin highlighted that the legal amendments and judicial reform packages haven’t changed anything in prisons. “The government tries to discipline the political prisoners with such practices. Their only aim is to prevent the political prisoners from being released from prisons. The prisoners are often banned from seeing their families and friends due to the disciplinary punishments they receive in prisons. They are exiled to other prisons. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rights of political prisoners have been restricted in the name of measures,” she said.

“Deaths in prisons are proof of what is happening in prisons”

“A policy is being carried out as if political prisoners should remain in prison for the rest of their lives,” Seda Zengin said, adding that the political prisoners are prevented from participating in social activities in prisons. “The recent deaths in prison are proof of what is happening in prisons. The government gives a message to the political prisoners with this policy. The prisoners are told ‘we can play with your health and your existence in an arbitrary way’.

“The deaths of sick prisoners cause deep wounds in the conscience of the public”

Emphasizing that the policy carried out by the government is both very dangerous and against human rights, Seda Zengin said, “The unclear regulation about the life-threatening condition of sick prisoners gives the right to the administration of prisons and judicial authorities to act arbitrarily. The sick prisoners are held in prison until they die or they are released when they are about to die. Their children, mothers, fathers, sisters, or brothers have also faced such a cruel practice. The deaths of sick prisoners cause deep wounds in the conscience of their families and the public.”

“The circle of prosecutor, hospital, and ATK condemns prisoners to death”

According to Article 16/3 of the Law on The Execution of Penalties and Security Measures No 5275, the Office of Chief Public Prosecutor can postpone execution due to illness upon a report issued by the Forensic Medicine Institution (ATK) or issued by the health committee of a fully equipped hospital designated by the Ministry of Justice and approved by the Forensic Medicine Institution. “However, the members of the Forensic Medicine Institution have been appointed by the Ministry of Justice and they often don’t issue medical reports independent of the political power. The institution doesn’t issue medical reports for sick prisoners, whose illnesses have been already confirmed by doctors and hospitals. The circle of prosecutor, hospital, and ATK condemns prisoners to death. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for protecting the lives of prisoners and their right to access health care. But it continues to remain silent about the deaths of sick prisoners and the ongoing rights violations in prisons.”