Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça have been on a hunger strike for 132 days and their lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı said they are expecting the verdict on their appeal for Nuriye and Semih at the ECHR to come out this week.
Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça’s lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı stated that the risk on their health increases every day, but they are conscious and their resolve is unchanged.
Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça are educators who have been laid off by a Statutory Decree. They have been on a hunger strike for 132 days, and in prison for 56. Their lawyers’ several demands to have them preventively released have been repeatedly refused. Their lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı spoke to the ANF on their current situation.
Kozağaçlı said Nuriye and Semih have been on a hunger strike for a very long time and stated that at the point they are at, they are displaying all possible symptoms. According to Kozağaçlı, Özakça and Gülmen have seriously reduced mobility and have to use wheelchairs inside the prison. Some conditions have improved since last weekend. The airbed and neck support they had been demanding for a while now have been delivered.
RISK INCREASING
But the risk on their health is increasing every day. They have serious pains and severe muscle loss. Now they have kidney and muscle pains.
THEIR RESOLVE REMAINS UNCHANGED
Lawyer Kozağaçlı stated that despite all negativity, they are conscious and they are well, stressing that their resolve remains unchanged. Kozağaçlı also said they are able to read and write less at this point, and added that family visits for Özakça and Gülmen haven’t been prevented from seeing their families.
THE CASE IS THREE DIMENSIONAL
Kozağaçlı said the case is three dimensional, and elaborated:
“First we have the case about their arrestee status. As their lawyers, we have appealed this countless times and demanded they be released. These appeals were refused. After our first appeal, we went to the Constitutional Court. When the Constitutional Court refused our demand for an injunction, we went to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Right now we have an appeal at the ECHR for the unrightful arrest and to have them released. We are expecting the ECHR to issue a verdict this week.
The second aspect is that the case they are tried on has been postponed to September 14. Sadly, our attempts to have it scheduled sooner were in vain. It seems very improbable for Nuriye and Semih to reach that date with their health intact.
Thirdly, there is their demand to return to their jobs. There is a claim that the State of Emergency Commission has started working this week. We will see about that. We will be following up.”
