Last week, Arslan was hospitalized at the Bakırköy Psychiatric and Nervous Illnesses Hospital for the second time, and kept under observation in the Forensic Psychiatry Department for one week. Arslan, who was observed by camera and also administered a number of tests, was determined to have the same diagnosis announced upon the conclusion of his previous stay at the institution: “The patient is attempting to portray himself as mentally ill.” Following this diagnosis, Arslan was sent back to Silivri Prison.
Arslan was sentenced to life in prison for the Council of State attack and is currently a defendant in the trial of Ergenekon, a deep-state criminal organization nestled within the state and military institutions that is suspected of committing innumerous crimes over the course of decades in an attempt to pave the way for a coup. For a three-week period during August and September 2009, Arslan stayed at the Bakırköy hospital and was also pronounced to be faking mental illness. Arslan was re-institutionalized last week after exhibiting bizarre behavior in prison, and hospital staff re-evaluated him despite his past record. Arslan was monitored by camera, evaluated in person by psychiatric experts and made to complete a number of diagnostic tests. Doctors have said Arslan’s reactions were inconsistent on multiple levels, and he was determined fit to return to prison.
Last year Arslan had been dealt a similar diagnosis at Ankara Numune Hospital. Tests at that hospital had determined that the criminal probably did not have any mental or emotional disorder but was trying to make himself appear ill. He was then sent from Ankara to the hospital in İstanbul’s Bakırköy district to obtain a definitive evaluation. Doctors who evaluated Arslan there say he put on quite the show in an attempt to appear insane, barking and howling like a dog for 12 days, telling hospital staff that he refused to be attended to by any female nurse who did not wear a headscarf, and even defecating in the middle of his room in front of the observation cameras.
The three-page report said that his behavior and actions were of a “theatrical quality” and that no psychiatric treatment was necessary.
