Garibe Gezer suspiciously loses her life in prison

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Systematically tortured and sexually assaulted in the Kandıra No. 1 Type F High Security Prison in western Turkey, prisoner Garibe Gezer has suspiciously lost her life. Informing her family about her death, the prison administration has alleged that Gezer took her own life.

CLICK - Sexual assault, torture against woman prisoner in padded cell

Gezer's lawyer and Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair Eren Keskin has announced Gezer's passing on Twitter:

"We have just been informed that our client Garibe Gezer committed suicide in Kandıra prison. She was a victim of torture.

"She was given a penalty of solitary confinement. The prison director called her elder sister and we have unfortunately lost our Garibe. Lawyer Jiyan Tosun and lawyer Jiyan Kara are now going to her.

Further in her message, lawyer Eren Keskin has noted that Garibe Gezer was in solitary confinement as a disciplinary punishment and asked, "How could a person in a cell hang herself? Shame on you!"

Autopsy undertaken without lawyers

Keskin has later written that the lawyers went to Kandıra Prison to take the camera footage showing Gezer's moment of death and to meet the prison administration. However, Gezer's deceased body had been taken to the Kocaeli Forensic Medicine Institution in the meantime and an autopsy was carried out without waiting for the lawyers to arrive. The cause of death has not been indicated in the preliminary autopsy report.

"Such things could not happen even in the 90s," Keskin has written.

Lawyers not let in the prison

Arriving in the Kandıra Prison, the lawyers were not let in. The lawyers were not allowed to meet their other clients in the prison, either.

Taking down minutes about what happened, the lawyers have announced that they will file a criminal complaint against the authorities. Following the public outrage, the lawyers were allowed in prison.

'They definitely did something'

Speaking to Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Asya Gezer, the elder sister of Garibe Gezer, has said that she talked to Garibe Gezer on November 16 the last time. Saying that she was fine and in good spirits back then, elder sister Gezer has briefly stated the following:

"She said that the pressure on her eased and she was in good spirits for this reason. But she said she had 20 solitary confinement penalties from the previous period. She said she would be taken to a cell for this reason. I told her I would be there to see her in January. She was really happy. She said she would be looking forward to seeing me. I sent her three parcels, in fact. She wanted pictures of our children. I sent her clothes.

Today, someone who introduced herself/himself as the 2nd director called from the prison. This person said that my sister committed suicide. I reacted, saying that I did not believe it. When I said that I would file a criminal complaint against them, s/he said, 'We will talk about it in detail when you come here.' S/he also said that her deceased body was taken to the forensic medicine institution. I am now going from Mardin to Kandıra. I do not believe that my sister committed suicide. They must have definitely done something.

Torture and rape in prison

Gezer, in her letters to JinNews agency and via her lawyers, said that she was held in solitary confinement, subjected to systematic torture and was raped by women wardens lastly. (TP/SD)