Lost his life on a hunger strike, Mustafa Koçak billed for food
Hasan Koçak visiting his son in prison.
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During the hunger strike he had started for the right to a fair trial, Mustafa Koçak, (28) whose condition worsened after the forced medical intervention, died on April 23, 2020, on the 296th day of the strike.
As a result of an interrogation at the tax office where his family went for another transaction, they learned that Koçak "owed money" to the prison.
İzmir T Type Closed Prison No.2, where Koçak was detained, has issued two separate payrolls under the heading "PAYROLL FOR BREAD AND FOOD."
One of the payrolls is 40 TL, the other is 501.5 TL.
The dates of both payrolls coincide with the period when Koçak was on a hunger strike.
The payrolls also include the information that Koçak was notified about the debt and that he had refused to pay.
An investigation has been requested from the prosecutor's office for the debt
The prison administration, who stated that these fees were not paid, sent the payrolls to the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on April 9, 2020, saying, "The convict has not paid his debt, it is requested to carry out the necessary investigation in accordance with Article 2 of Law No. 2548."
At this time, Mustafa Koçak was still on a hunger strike.
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"My son died from hunger!"
Mustafa Koçak's father, Hasan Koçak, has evaluated the situation as follows; "My son Mustafa Koçak was on a hunger strike for 10 months. They sent a bill of bread and food debt to someone who was on a hunger strike in prison. People who did not even give sugar and vitamin B to my son for 10 months are doing this. My son died from hunger...from hunger! It is remorseless to ask for bread and food money from my son who died on a hunger strike for a fair trial."
The family's lawyer Oğuzhan Topalkara also told Bianet, "A debt has been issued to my client Mustafa Koçak, under the name of 'subsistence allowance', claiming that it was in return for the food given to him during his stay in prison. This debt was discovered accidentally as a result of an inquiry made by his family at the tax office."
Objection to prosecution and tax office
Lawyer Topalkara has said, "Mustafa Koçak, who was on a hunger strike for 297 days, refused to eat every single time. This situation was recorded by the prison every day."
Oğuzhan Topalkara stated that as the lawyers of the family, they have objected to this debt by submitting the necessary applications to both İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and tax courts;
"It is perhaps the biggest insult to be done to a family that has both gone through a legal transaction which has been established in a way that is contrary to the material facts and has lost their sons from hunger."
What happened?Mustafa Koçak wrote these about the 12 days he spent in custody in his letter to his lawyer: "I was detained in the middle of the street in Mecidiyeköy and taken to the İstanbul Police Department on Vatan Street. Here they put a statement in front of me, "Give your statement in line with this and get out." "Otherwise we will arrest you and you'll never see the light of day again." They said, 'You help us, we help you, you live comfortably.' "I was subjected to psychological and physical torture for not accepting it. The beating they sustained incessantly was the most 'innocent' thing they did. They hanged me by my arms while I was handcuffed from the back, took off my clothes, put a sack over my head, and tin cans over it. They percussed tin cans on my head for dozens of minutes. They swore at me, my mother, my father and my sister. They have threatened to rape my pregnant sister. These tortures lasted 12 days, I was arrested on October 4, 2017." He was charged with providing firearms to an illegal organization and was sentenced for violating the Constitution. The court's decision stated the conclusion that he had committed the crime was "reached by conscientious conviction": "...The conviction of conscience that the accused has committed the crime of 'using force and violence, attempting to abolish or replace the order prescribed by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, or attempting to prevent the actual implementation of this order' has been reached as a result of the trial of our court." The reason for the sentence is the statements by witnesses and anonymous witnesses, according to the decision. Attorney Ezgi Çakır had said, "There is nothing wrong with the criminal examination of the weapon, the camera footage and the phone records in the case file, namely, all the objective evidence that could arouse suspicion on the defendants. There are no fingerprints, no phone records, no camera records." "My elder brother said that after the forced intervention 40 days ago, he now cannot walk, there is a burning sensation on his body and he cannot touch it, his legs have swollen and he has blisters at the bottom of his feet," Koçak' sister Mine had told bianet. "He is losing his teeth, he has lost a lot of weight. He has dropped to 29 kilograms. He hurts a lot, he cannot sleep because of pain, he said. "The only precaution against the virus is pouring disinfectant on his hands and wearing a mask. But we don't know how much disinfectant they give him. Prison administration says that they take measures, but we cannot trust. Wardens come here from outside, they might have the virus. "We know that it is a virus affecting the immune system. My brother weighs 29 kilos now, his immune system is really weak. If he catches the virus, it might lead to his death. He himself says, 'I don't have much time left'." |
(AS/DCE/VK)