Death-Fasting Grup Yorum Members Forcefully Hospitalized Because of 'Mental Defectiveness'

Helin Bölek and İbrahim Gökçek (Photo: Grup Yorum / Twitter)

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Two members of the Grup Yorum music band who have been on a death fast for nearly nine months are currently hospitalized out of their will.

They were taken to hospital upon a court order that cited Article 432 of the Turkish Civil Code, which allows restriction of the freedom of a person "who poses a threat to the society because of mental illness, mental defectiveness, alcohol or drug addiction, a severely dangerous infectious disease, or roguery," bianet has learned.

İbrahim Gökçek and Helin Bölek, who have been on a death fast for 269 and 266 days respectively, were detained yesterday morning (March 11) during a police raid in the house they were staying in Küçük Armutlu, İstanbul and were taken to Ümraniye Training and Research Hospital.

Attorneys: They had clear conscience

The verdict of "obligatory hospitalization" was given by İstanbul 18th Penal Court of Peace upon an application by the Ministry of Health, People's Law Bureau said in a written statement.

The bureau said that it was not able to obtain information about their clients until evening yesterday.

Saying that the verdict was not lawful, the attorneys stressed that the musicians did not have a mental illness or weakness as they were able to communicate with people around them and doctors.

"They did not have any 'mental problem'. Were Gökçek and Bölek addicted to alcohol and drugs? No, they were not. Did they have an infectious disease? No, they did not. Was this verdict directed at them because of 'roguery'? They had nothing to do with roguery, which can be defined as the person's unplanned and unbalanced acts in a way that s/he cannot take responsibility for his/her acts. With their clearest conscience, they were putting up a struggle, demanding justice.

"And for the most important condition of the article; were the clients posing a danger for the public? Our answer will be 'no' again."

Why are they on a death fast?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

The court gave the verdict unlawfully and without citing a reason, the statement further said.

"Our clients are forcing all kinds of remedies from penal courts of peace to prosecutor's office decisions, from heavy penal courts to the Court of Cassation approvals.

"However, the courts of this country do not distribute justice. Courts of this country are working upon orders by the government. The courts of this country do not recognize the law, laws.

"Therefore, our call is to those who persecute. Forced intervention is a crime against humanity. Forced intervention is murder. Forced intervention is torture." (AS/VK)