Open Letter to President Erdoğan: Outbreak Poses a Grave Risk to Prisons

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Ahmet Türk, Celal Doğan, Kezban Hatemi, Nesrin Nas, Oya Baydar, Rıza Türmen, Tarhan Erdem and Zülfü Livaneli have addressed an open letter to President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the law draft on criminal execution.

As announced by AKP Group Deputy Chair Cahit Özkan in a press conference at the Parliament on March 31, in its current form, the law draft excludes "sexual offenses, drug offenses, intentional killing offenses, violence against women and terror offenses" from reduced prison sentences.

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In their joint open letter, eight politicians and intellectuals have addressed all responsible parties, especially the President, in following words:

'It is in complete contradiction with equality'

"Considering the conditions that we are in, our citizen consciousness and responsibility lead us to make this application.

"The content of the legislative proposal shows that the warnings are not taken into consideration and the articles in the law draft are in complete contradiction with the equality principle of the law on criminal execution, which is accepted by universal human rights standards.

"The timing of the proposal, which is called the Execution Package, is - of course - meaningful. The reason why it is put on the agenda at a time when the whole country is urged to 'stay home' is obviously the coronavirus outbreak among other things.

'Prisons full of journalists, writers, politicians...'

"The outbreak poses a grave risk to prisons. When there is a risk of an outbreak, people's requests - regardless of their crimes - for being in a healthy environment and protected from possible risks must be met so that their right to life, the most basic human right, can be safeguarded.

"The urgent measures to take within this context must be specified and legislated as soon as possible, the statements of United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, European Union Parliamentarians and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights referring to the standards and their calls to Turkey must be urgently taken into account.

"Prisons and penal institutions of our country are full of journalists, writers, politicians, rights defenders, civil society leaders and dissidents due to questionable verdicts of arrest and conviction. These people have been arrested or convicted on terror charges, with which they have nothing to do, due to their sensibilities. Unfortunately, the law draft has been prepared without taking this fact into consideration.

'It will lead to irreversible consequences'

"If this legal arrangement enters into force, it will both lead to irreversible consequences in prisons, which are especially at risk, and it will deeply undermine the public conscience and the society's sense of justice.

"We would like to invite the TBMM Justice Commission, which will first discuss the proposal, the TBMM General Assembly and all political parties to take steps about this issue, reminding them of their historical responsibility, and we would like to express our concerns and recommendations directly to all responsible parties and authorities, especially to Mr. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop."

(RT/SD)