HDP Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu said: “There is political pressure on the Istanbul ATK (Forensic Medicine Institute). That's why prisoners are released either on their deathbed or in coffins."

Speaking to ANF, Gergerlioğlu said that, according to the latest report of the Council of Europe on world prisons, Turkey has the highest prison population after Russia.

Stating that Turkey broke a record in terms of the rate of people entering prisons in a year, Gergerlioğlu added that the rate of imprisonment in Turkey increased by 89.3 percent.

“There is a grave situation. Prisons are overcrowded. Some prisons have an occupancy rate of up to 166%. If you keep 35 people in a 10-person space, people's mental and physical health will deteriorate first. This is the biggest problem right now. People's health is deteriorating and therefore, the number of ill prisoners is increasing dramatically. Those who enter prisons already ill are getting sicker. Currently, death rates in prisons are very high. We are in second place after Russia in deaths in prisons in the world. Among these rates, there are suicide cases at 13.9%.”  

Reminding that they made legislative proposals to facilitate the procedures for the postponement of the executions of ill prisoners, Gergerlioğlu said: “Prisoners with cancer, Alzheimer's and many other chronic and severe illnesses should not remain in prison. The issue of suspension of the sentence is crucial. I have many cases ahead of me right now. Özge Özbek, who suffers from stage 4 brain cancer, had severe brain surgery. A year ago, she got her sentence suspended, but then the suspensions were revoked and now she's back in prison. Training and Research Hospital says she can't stay in prison, but Istanbul ATK says she can. There are political pressures on Istanbul ATK. That is why prisoners are released either on their deathbed or in coffins.”

Drawing attention to the fact that Aysel Tuğluk has been kept in prison despite her severe dementia, Gergerlioğlu underlined that even though Kocaeli University Hospital gave a two-time suspension of execution, she was stuck in Istanbul ATK.

Gergerlioğlu said: “We see the same thing in the case of the Fethullah Gülen Community. Two ill prisoners passed away in the past few days. One is Nusret Muğlu, 86 years old. The other is 83-year-old ill prisoner Yusuf Pekmezci. Suspension of execution was too late for both prisoners. You can clearly see the state mentality here. They won’t free prisoners, they won’t give them a report. A prisoner named Abdo Baran, whom I followed closely, was handcuffed while in intensive care despite his unconsciousness and died in handcuffs on his sickbed. Today, I brought it to the agenda in the Parliament. In Van Prison, Şervan Cangüder committed suicide at the age of 20 due to depression. He had been in prison for 5 years. Sinan Kaya, a 28-year-old seriously ill prisoner with a liver transplant, committed suicide.”

Gergerlioğlu, who said that they received a lot of applications from families, added: “We see that there are great tragedies. The government cover all cases from A to Z. There are so many names in our minds, you wouldn't believe it. We cannot forget people's names; they leave such a great mark on us. Everyone forgets, we can't forget. You have punished people with fair or unfair judgments, but politics must be put aside. We all say get well soon to a sick person, regardless of his politics or religion. We see that all these reports were prepared under the law of the enemy. Aysel Tuğluk's report is the best example of this. It is so biased. Many people could have been saved, but we lost young people, also because of these biased reports.”