Video footage shows torture despite reports of ‘heart attack’ and ‘infectious disease’

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

It has turned out that prisoner Ferhan Yılmaz, who lost his life in the Silivri No. 5 Type L Prison in İstanbul, was filmed while he was in the intensive care unit. The footage shows marks of torture on his face.

In a written statement about the passing of the prisoner, the Directorate General of Prisons and Detention Houses stated that Ferhan Yılmaz "had died as a result of his heart stopping beating". The death report, on the other hand, has referred to an "infectious disease".

The video showing the face of Yılmaz battered and deformed has surfaced amid the allegations of torture in Silivri Prison.

According to the allegations, the violence began on April 6, 2022, when 60 wardens entered the Silivri No. 5 Type L Closed Prison, tortured prisoners in wards, threatened them and asked them to kill themselves. Some prisoners attempted to commit suicide as a result.

The video footage obtained by Meltem Akyol from daily Evrensel confirms what elder brother Hikmet Yılmaz previously said.

#FerhatYılmaz Silivri 5 No'lu L Tipi Kapalı Cezaevi'nde "İŞKENCEYLE ÖLDÜRÜLDÜ'
Kardeşinin cenazesini yıkadığını ve gördüğü karşısında dehşete düştüğünü ifade eden Abisi: Üst dudağında bir el kadar şişkinlik vardı. Gözleri mosmordu, şişkinlikten görünmüyordu. Gözlerinin altından.. pic.twitter.com/IZi3TRtAn2

— Özgür Gündem (@OzgurrGundem) April 13, 2022

While the Directorate General of Prisons and Detention Houses, in its written statement, argued that Ferhan Yılmaz lost his life "after his heart stopped beating", the death report obtained by Hazar Dost from halktv.com.tr has referred to his cause of death as an "infectious disease".

Speaking to Evrensel newspaper, Ferhan Yılmaz's elder brother Hikmet Yılmaz has said, "We saw him while washing him [before burial]; there were marks on his neck as if he had been hanged by a washing line. His both eyes burst, blood was coming from his eyes."

According to the elder brother, "It was like his nose had been completely broken; it was filled with cotton. His chest were highly swollen and there was a bruise as if a tree had been stuck in there. His upper lip was so swollen that it was as big as a palm. His right foot had stitches."

The Directorate General of Prisons and Detention Houses made a statement about the allegations. The statement indicated that late Ferhan Yılmaz fainted in his ward and he was first taken to the Silivri Penal Institution State Hospital, then to the Silivri State Hospital. The Directorate said that while he was being treated in the intensive care unit at the Silivri State Hospital, he lost his life as a result of cardiac arrest on April 10, 2022 at 6.30 pm.

'Why would he kill himself 2 days before release'

As reported on the Twitter account of Özgür Gündem newspaper, elder brother Hikmet Yılmaz has also noted that the eyes of his brother were in bruises and they could not be seen because they were swollen.

According to elder brother Yılmaz, the late prisoner "took medicine" to claim his own life. But Hikmet Yılmaz is now asking, "Why would a person commit suicide two days before he was to be released?" The elder brother has said, "My brother was tortured to death."

He has added, "When they called us from the prison administration, they first said that 'he had fainted, he had had a heart attack.' As soon as we were informed, we came to İstanbul by plane. [...] When we got there, they had taken my brother to the Silivri State Hospital. We called the prison again. We said we did not believe he had had a heart attack."

The elder brother has asked, "Two people have lost their lives. Did they have a heart attack at the same time?" This time, according to Hikmet Yılmaz, "they were told that 'they took pills, they rose up'."

Noting that they were given "contradictory information", Yılmaz has said:

They said, 'He took 3-4 pills, that was why he had an attack.' They go to the infirmary with a warden even to take pain killers. My brother was either given several pills and told, 'Take them and die' or my brother did not die in the way that they allege.

The elder brother has further asked, "Why would a prisoner rise up 2 days before his release? The contradictory information that they give is an evidence of the fact that the incident was a murder."

The doctor reportedly told the elder brother: "Whatever happened to him happened inside. He lost his life while he was being taken to the hospital. His inner organs burst, he did not have a heart attack."

CHP's Tanrıkulu brought it to Parliament

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu brought the issue to the Parliamentary General Assembly's agenda yesterday (April 13). Tanrıkulu showed the pictures of later Ferhan Yılmaz taken while he was in the intensive care unit.

Raising concerns about similar other incidents in Turkey's prisons based on the reports of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, CHP's Sezgin Tanrıkulu said that the autopsy report will be issued 5 months later. The MP shared the following allegations about it:

"They tried to talk, asking, 'How will it be issued at an earlier date', they were asked for bribes. It was just yesterday when the family was told by the Forensic Medicine Institution, 'If you give this and that amount of money, we will have the report issued not in 5, but in 2 months.' You have rotten Turkey, you have indeed rotten Turkey. Everyone has to be ashamed of this picture." (AEK/SD)