It is like a ritual how the Istanbul police suppress the "justice vigil" of relatives of sick prisoners week after week in order to prevent the public from being informed about the situation in the prisons. For 28 weeks, the initiative has been taking to the streets in the Bosporus metropolis to make their concern visible and to make it heard: the release of seriously ill prisoners and those who continue to be imprisoned because they have not repented despite completing their sentences.

Almost every rally by the group, which is mainly made up of mothers fighting for the lives of their imprisoned children, has been violently broken up by police since it began last March. Today, security forces again cracked down on prisoners’ families, detaining at least nine people. Among them are Evin Genç, co-chair of Anyakay-Der, a solidarity association of families of martyrs and missing prisoners in Central Anatolia, and Zeynep Calıhan, Kumri Akgül and Cemile Çiftçi, mothers of political prisoners. Press representatives were also repeatedly harassed by the police. The journalists affected were Zeynep Kuray (ANF), Rukiye Adıgüzel (MA), Hayri Tunç (Fersude) and Meral Danyıldız (Artı TV).

Death in prison: state murder

"We witnessed again that the regime's thugs act in a barbaric way against peaceful people who exercise their fundamental right to freedom of assembly and denounce the life-threatening situation of sick prisoners," HDP MP Musa Piroğlu criticised the violent dispersal of the rally by the police. "This state leaves sick detainees to certain death. Dozens of prisoners have died behind bars since the beginning of the year. Behind this there is a whole system of oppression and disenfranchisement that in effect amounts to state murder," said Piroğlu. The fact that this action of the regime is not exposed and publicly denounced under any circumstances fits into the scheme of Turkish criminal law against the enemy, he said.

IHD: 650 seriously ill prisoners

According to the Human Rights Association (IHD), there are over 1,500 sick people in Turkey's prisons and around 650 of them are seriously ill. In all cases, they are so-called prisoners of conscience - people who have been imprisoned because of their political and ideological views. Releases are extremely rare, even though Turkey has ratified the "European Prison Rules". Because the Institute of Forensic Medicine (ATK), which is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, certifies that many sick prisoners are fit for detention, deaths occur time and again. In 2022, about 50 prisoners have already died. According to the IHD, all these cases could have been avoided if the prisoners in question had been released in time and had enjoyed uninterrupted treatment.

Arbitrary continuation of imprisonment due to lack of remorse for "criminal acts”

In addition, there are numerous people in Turkish prisons whose regular term of imprisonment has long since expired but who are still not released. These prisoners are Kurds sentenced under the anti-terror law, often "lifers" who have served 30-year sentences. Under the pretext of not accepting the unlawful imposition of "repentance for their crimes", they are arbitrarily deprived of their right to freedom.