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Terminally ill inmates left to their fates due to ATK deficiencies
“The politicized identity of the ATK forces seriously sick inmates to die in their prison cells. Unfortunately, the ATK's decisions do not comply with medical ethics,” stated Human Rights Association (İHD) Chairman Öztürk Türkdoğan.
Zere is only one of several terminally ill prisoners who officials refuse to release from prison, preventing them from receiving proper treatment. İsmet Ablak died on Sunday in a hospital detention ward, three years after being diagnosed with cancer while in prison. His family and lawyers had been unable to secure his release on medical grounds.
Similarly, Mehmet Elçi, Gurbet Mete, Hasan Kert, Beşir Özer and Recep Çelik all recently died while in prison. Zere, Erol Zavar and Samet Çelik are currently left awaiting death in their prison cells. All were convicted on charges of being members of illegal organizations.
Türkdoğan stressed that the problem stems mainly from the existing regulations. “If a suspect on trial receives a medical report from a hospital which shows that his health condition would not allow him to stay in prison, he is released without the report being approved by the ATK. But if a prisoner faces the same situation, he absolutely must have his medical report approved by the ATK to be released. The council, however, almost never approves such reports and leaves terminally ill inmates to their own fate,” he remarked.
Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu from the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) pointed to a recent action taken by President Abdullah Gül, who earlier this week directed the State Audit Council (DDK) to oversee, inspect and investigate the ATK.
This inspection comes shortly after the death of Ablak and the council's controversial reports in the case of Münevver Karabulut, who was brutally killed and decapitated, allegedly by her boyfriend.
“The ATK should immediately be restructured, and its decisions should be overseen by a higher body. The fact that inmates are left to die in prison is a great burden on our conscience in a country where army generals accused of plotting to overthrow the government are immediately released from prison due to health reasons,” Gergerlioğlu stated.
The MAZLUM-DER official was referring to generals Hurşit Tolon and Şener Eruygur, who were released due to “old age and poor health” shortly after they were arrested for suspected attempts to topple the democratically elected government.
In the meantime, a number of Turkish civil society organizations released a joint statement in which they called for the abolishment of the ATK. The organizations called for the council to be replaced by an autonomous body which would be assisted by experts affiliated with different universities.
"Medical reports prepared without consultation with experts at universities are neither scientific nor legal," read the statement.
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