THIV:Forensic Department Should be Autonomous
The Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) called on the people, media organizations and doctors to take actions against this implementation. In a press conference on Friday, TIHV head Yavuz Onen said the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) had promised to make the Forensic Medical Institution an independent, autonomous and scientific institution.
He called on the government to end the pressure it puts on the Forensic Medical Institution.
Demanding an Autonomous Forensic Medical Institution
"We are calling on the government to keep its promises and spend efforts to create an independent, autonomous and scientific Forensic Medical system.
Onen said the Forensic Medical Institution had diagnosed certain prisoners with the Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome. The Institution later said the "symptoms of the disease vanished" and led to the decision to arrest and send them back to prison.
He said this led them to think the Forensic Medical Institution prepared reports according to the orders it takes.
The Forensic Medical Institution is not postponing sentence
Due to the reports of the Forensic Medical Institution, those patients who were released after their prison sentences were postponed. Some of the patients, whose sentences were further postponed for another six month because they had not recovered (Penal Law no: 399), are now faced with the risk of being sent back to prison:
The doctors at the Forensic Medical Institution are not asking for postponement of sentences for some patients who have been diagnosed with the Wernicke Korsakoff disease. They are acting as if those patients have recovered.
For example, Serkan Aydogan was diagnosed with the Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome during 2001-2003, and his sentence had been postponed. In September 2003, the Forensic Medical Institution prepared a new report for Aydogan in which it stated his every condition except the symptoms of Wernicke Korsakoff. This could lead to Aydogan being sent to prison again.
Cafer Gurbuz's sentence had been postponed for seven years for the same reason. In November 2003, the Forensic Medical Institution prepared a new report, which led to Gurbuz's arrest.
Gunnaz Kurucay's sentence has been postponed for four times since 2001. Kurucay, who was born in 1975, was ordered arrested again after the Medical Forensic Institution's new report in December 2003.
They are being arrested despite the Medical Forensic reports
Meanwhile, the court is arresting some people despite reports by the Forensic Medical Institution saying they could not recover and that their sentences should be postponed.
For example, the court ordered Tekin Yildiz be arrested despite a report by the Forensic Medical Institution saying he had Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome. Yildiz, who was born in 1970, is not at the Bayrampasa prison.
109 people have lost their lives as a result of death fasts and hunger strikes. A total of 614 people who had diseases related to hunger strikes, have applied to the TIHV. Fifty-one of them were those who joined the hunger strikes before 2001. 536 of them had begun hunger strikes after 2001.
Dangerous game played on people's lives
DR. Sukran Irencin, TIHV Istanbul representative, said they had diagnosed 334 people with the Wernicke syndrome, and 289 people with the Korsakoff syndrome when they were first released.
Irencin said besides these people, there were tens of others who faced the risk of being sent back to prison.
Irencin said the defense mechanisms of people with the Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome collapses and it is very risky for them to be in prison. Those people with the disease can do their physical therapy exercises at home with the help of their family but cannot carry on with their exercises in prison.
Dr. Onder Ozkalipci said people might ask if every disabled or diseased person should be forgiven. "But people diagnosed with the Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome do not have the capacity to sense the reality," said Ozkalipci. "So when you think that the prison sentence should be correctional, it doesn't really serve that need in that case."
TIHV's scream
With Friday's press conference, TIHV also called on the doctors of the Forensic Medical Institution not to compromise scientific realities and to preserve their professional honor and medical knowledge against all political pressures.
Metin Bakkalci, co-president of the Turkish Doctors' Chamber, spoke at the TIHV press conference and said everyone should respect the scientific diagnoses.
"This press conference is a scream for the independence of the Forensic Medical Institution," said Bakkalci. "Because the Forensic Medical Institution represents the people's consciences. (YS/BB/EA/YE))