Death Fasting Grup Yorum Members Bölek, Gökçek Hospitalized with a Police Raid

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The house of death fasting Grup Yorum music band members İbrahim Gökçek and Helin Bölek were raided by the police early in the morning today (March 11). Gökçek and Bölek have been taken to Ümraniye Training and Research Hospital in an ambulance following the raid.

While Helin Bölek has been on a death fast for 265 days, İbrahim Gökçek has been on a death fast for the last 268 days.

Speaking to bianet about the issue, lawyer Didem Ünsal has said that two Grup Yorum band members were taken to the hospital in an ambulance, they were admitted to the hospital from the emergency service entry and stated that they did not accept any medical intervention ot treatment.

Three other people, including the attendant of the death fasting band members, have also been detained in police raid today.

Raiding the Djemevi [the place of worship of Alevis] in Armutlu, İstanbul as well, police conducted a search there.

'Involuntary intervention caused permanent damage, death'

People's Law Bureau has made the following statement about the issue:

"In the face of any unfavorable incident that could occur as a result of an intervention by disregarding our clients' lack of concent, the physicians who make the intervention and the police officers who force them to do it will be responsible in terms of international [law].

"According to the Article 5 of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, to which Turkey is a party and which it has incorporated into its domestic law by passing it at the Parliament, as well as several other international conventions, it is forbidden to make any medical intervention to the person in question without his or her consent.

"The torture of involuntary intervention was inflicted on death fasters in previous mass death fast protests and these interventions caused the protesters to lose their lives, to become permanently disabled or to have permanent damage on their bodies.

"Any type of intervention that could cause such damages on the health of our clients is torture. Torture is a crime against humanity! There are no statutory limitations for the crime of torture!"

* Article 5 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine says that "an intervention in the health field may only be carried out after the person concerned has given free and informed consent to it."

'It is their right to refuse medical intervention'

Dr. İncilay Erdoğan previously spoke to bianet about the enforced medical intervention / attention to hunger strikers. Underlining that physicians should act upon the will of the patient, Erdoğan briefly stated the following:

"A physician is obligated to inform the patient about the decisions that he or she takes. An adult who is eligible to make a decision has the right to not consent to an intervention.

"If the he or she is unconscious, a written or verbal statement that was previously made by them is taken into consideration and the physician acts accordingly. If the person has a statement that he or she refuses forced intervention, no intervention can be made by force. Similarly, their statements as to B1 and liquid intake are also taken into consideration. No intervention can be made without the consent of the person.

"According to the Declaration of Lisbon and World Medical Association Declaration of Patient Rights, a patient has the right to be left humanly at the last stage of his or her life and die as honorably and comfortably as possible. If they do not want intervention with their own statements, it is their right."

What happened?

The İdil Cultural Center in Okmeydanı, İstanbul has been raided by the police for over 10 times over the last two years.

During the raids, instruments of Grup Yorum members were either broken or gone missing, their music books were also damaged.

According to the statement made by the group, a total of 30 people were arrested in these raids. Seven members of the band are still arrested.

The death fasting Grup Yorum members have the following demands:

* End the police raids against İdil Cultural Center, which is constantly raided, attempted to be terrorized and where the group is conducting its activities

* Remove the Grup Yorum members from the wanted lists of the Ministry

* Remove the ban on the concerts of Grup Yorum, all concerts of which have been banned for almost three years.

* Drop the lawsuits filed against Grup Yorum members

* Release all arrested Grup Yorum members (AS/SD)