Bor, who is currently 94 percent visually impaired, said: "I cannot see it anymore. Ill prisoners in jail are persecuted twice.”

The Bor family lives in the neighbourhood of Hacıbekir in Van. They are the closest example of state persecution in Turkey. Yusuf Bor was arrested as a result of an investigation opened against his wife Behican Bor while he was visiting in prison and remained in prison for 3 years and nine months. Bor suffered from eye pressure before entering prison but, as he was under constant treatment, did not suffer from any vision. Now he is 94% visually impaired because he was not treated in prison. Released on 10 November 2019, Bor filed a criminal complaint against the prison administration and is fighting for justice.

After losing his eyesight a year after he was imprisoned, Bor was able to obtain eye drops from the prison infirmary every two months. Yusuf Bor has been in prison 2 times and his wife Behican Bor 4 times. Each time, they were arrested with unfounded allegations and secret witness statements. Yusuf Bor said: "I had eye pressure before I went to prison. They did not treat me. I lost my eyes."

Jailed while visiting his wife in prison

Bor, who is from Feraşin, Şırnak, was working in the municipal garage before Van municipality was taken over by a state-appointed trustee. Bor said: "I was working in the municipal garage when Selahattin Demirtaş attended a rally in Van. After the rally, the young people entered the garage, the police raided it, and, as I was in charge of the garage, they arrested me as well as the young people and I ended up in prison."

Bor, who was not treated despite all the demands for treatment he filed while in prison, spoke about his health problems when he was taken to the prison prosecutor's office to give his statement about an action they carried out in prison at that time. Only then he was transferred to the hospital. Bor said: "I told the prosecutor, 'You are putting pressure on me, you are strip searching us. I suffer from eye pressure. This world needs justice, without justice it can’t goes on.”

Bor said that after these words, the prosecutor told him: “When you go to the ward, someone who is good at reading and writing should write a petition for you. After this petition, I was taken to the hospital. But by then I had already lost my eyes. The infirmary gave me drops. I said I need to treat my eyes. They said there was no solution."

Bor went to Istanbul after he was released from prison, but he was told there was no treatment. This is not the only torture Bor has suffered. He was taken into custody in 1994 and subjected to severe torture for twenty days. "We defend the cause of our people, our friends who are in prison, our party. Ill prisoners suffered double persecution."

My husband had no problem with his eyes until he was jailed

Behican Bor also described her experiences as follows: "My husband had no problem with his eyes until he went to prison. He came to see me while I was in prison and got arrested at that time. They did not treat my husband. They tortured him until he lost his eyes. Now we are both free, but I am also ill, I had surgery. My condition is not good either. One of my grandchildren is also without a mother, I am looking after him.”

The family makes an appeal to “the patriots outside. Help us to get treatment for my husband, so we can help each other. We demand the authorities to release all ill prisoners.”