Urgent Action Call from Amnesty for Sibel Çapraz

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish 

The Amnesty has initiated an urgent action for Sibel Çapraz, who was shot in Turkey’s southeastern Yüksekova district of Hakkari province in 2015 and now kept in Bakırköy Women Prison.

“Access of Çapraz to a vital and urgent operation and sufficient medical care has been obstructed by the authorities”, said the statement issued as part of the urgent action.

“We demand that operation of closing colostomy and inversion be performed in an equipped medical center and access to other medical care be provided for Sibel Çapraz without any further delay”, the statement stated.

The Amnesty urged all human rights defenders to give signature as part of the urgent action.

What had happened?

Sibel Çapraz was injured with a bullet hitting her body as she was doing “noisy protest” with the neighborhood’s residents on the street upon gunshots during an operation in Yüksekova district on November 27, 2015. Remaining in intensive unit for nine days, Çapraz was arrested on charge of “being a member of [an] illegal organization” on March 2, 2016.

When arrested, Çapraz, who underwent 15 surgeries during a treatment of 96 days, was being discharged from the hospital where she was receiving treatment to Van Education and Research Hospital to have an operation.

Çapraz firstly stayed in Bakırköy Closed Women Prison, then transferred to İzmir Menemen Type R Prison on June 30. She was transferred to Bakırköy Prison in İstanbul on June 30.

Çapraz still couldn’t have the operation of closing colostomy and inversion, which she had to undergo in February 2016.

Çapraz states that she is in pain and has to rely on other inmates to be able to change her colostomy bag for several times a day. (EKN/TK)