Seriously ill prisoner Özkan tests positive for COVID-19

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Seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Emin Özkan and his son Ahmet Özkan, who stays with him, have tested positive for COVID-19.

As reported by Gülcan Dereli from daily Yeni Yaşam, Nevzat Özkan has said that he went to prison to see his father and brother yesterday; both his father and brother were in quarantine as they caught the virus.

CLICK - 'Tomorrow may be too late for Mehmet Emin Özkan'

Noting that his father was taken to the İstanbul Forensic Medicine Institution 3-4 days ago, Nevzat Özkan has said:

"He did not catch corona for 2 years despite his illnesses. We did not want him to be taken to İstanbul any longer. They took him by force. The Forensic Medicine Institution apparently told him to come.

"He is already sick. They make him go there all this way, but no results... We told them not to do it so that he would not be tormented. But they did not listen. They took him there, infected with corona and sent back."

Özkan has expressed the family's concerns about the health of his father and brother and made a call for immediate release.

Noting that his father has had a loss of memory for a very long time, Özkan has demanded "an end to the torment."

Unable to sustain his life by himself, Mehmet Emin Özkan is cared for by his son Ahmet Özkan, with whom he stays in the same prison ward.

Taken to the intensive care unit

As his condition deteriorated last night, Mehmet Emin Özkan was taken to the intensive care unit at the Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital. As reported by MA, his daughter Selma Özkan has said that her father has been hospitalized, expressing concerns that they have been unable to receive information about his current condition.

He had 5 heart attacks, cannot walk

83-year-old Mehmet Emin Özkan, throughout his twenty-six years behind bars, had five heart attacks. Held in the Diyarbakır Type D Closed Prison in southeast Turkey, Özkan is now also suffering from Alzheimer, aneurysm, blood pressure problems and goitre as well as kidney and intestinal disorders. He has lost his sense of hearing and sight to a considerable extent and cannot meet his personal needs on his own.

CLICK - 'Tomorrow may be too late for Mehmet Emin Özkan'

Recently, the Forensic Medicine Institution has unanimously concluded that 83-year-old seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Emin Özkan can stay in prison. In a video showing how he was taken to the hospital, it was seen that Özkan was having difficulty walking, but he was still handcuffed.

Prosecutor's office also said he was 'not guilty'

While Özkan, who was convicted of murdering Gendarmerie Regional Commander Bahtiyar Aydın in Lice massacre, was imprisoned for many years, in the case opened 20 years after the massacre, the prosecutor's office said that the one responsible for the massacre was Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regiment Commander retired Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu.

The Lice Case, in which the massacre that resulted in the murder of 14 civilians, a soldier and the then Gendarmerie Regional Commander Bahtiyar Aydın on 22 October 1993 in Diyarbakır's Lice was tried, ended with the acquittal of retired Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu, who was the then Commander of the Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regiment and the sole defendant.

While the court, in its ruling of acquittal, concluded hat Hatipoğlu was not responsible, it did not answer the question of who killed 16 people.

In the indictment of this case, it was stated that the responsible person was the soldier, not an organization, as it was said at that time.

In fact, the indictment stated that "No information was found that Mehmet Emin Özkan had participated in this action."

Mehmet Emin Özkan was also put on trial again eight years ago from the file in which he had been convicted, but he was neither released nor the evidence of the new file was evaluated.

CLICK - New confessions about 1993 Lice massacre on parliamentary agenda

(AS/SD)