NGOs Urge Release of Nine Terminally Ill Prisoners

Nine people in with health problems are on the brink of death in prisons warned rights activists, criticizing the lack of adequate health services and the government's hesitation to release the terminally ill.

During a press conference in Diyarbakır, activists noted that 913 people died in prison because of health problems in the last decade, according the Ministry of Justice statistics.

Human Rights Association (IHD), Human Rights' Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), Diyarbakır branch of Turkish Association of Physicians' (DTO)  were among the 10 NGOs that gathered at the press conference. DTO chief Şemsettin Koç urged the government to tackle the problem.

"Lack of adequate medical instruments and personnel, procedural problems of inmates referrals to hospitals, hardships in hospital transfers, lack of prisoner wards in hospitals and timely medical attention to ill inmates causes irreversible health problems for prisoners" he said.

Noting that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regards such delays in medical treatment as torture, Koç reminded that the Council of Europe's (CoE) Committee on Prevention of Torture recommends the release or deferral of sentences of prisoners with serious chronic  illnesses who can't receive necessary treatment in prisons.

He also argued that the body of forensic medicine -which holds the authority to decide on the medical conditions of the inmates, thus providing basis for legal action- acts biased, especially on cases involving political prisoners.

Koç also urged an inquiry into the allegations regarding the recent death of Şehmus Yalçın in Midyat Prison. Yalçın had died because of a heart attack during a epilepsy seizure, it was alleged. (NV/ŞA/EÜ)