Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk hospitalized

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Imprisoned Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk has been hospitalized after her situation worsened.

She was taken to the emergency service early in the morning, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.

Figen Yüksekdağ, a former co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said during the hearing of the Kobanî trial, "We sent her to the emergency service today. The negative situation created by the prison conditions are further worsening her situation."

Tuğluk was diagnosed with dementia in March 2021, but the authorities have refused to release her despite medical reports stating that she is not able to take care of herself.

She recently caught Covid-19 as well.

Aysel Tuğluk's imprisonment

Aysel Tuğluk was arrested on December 29, 2016, when she was the deputy chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

On March 16, 2018, the Ankara 17th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Tuğluk to 10 years in prison for "managing a criminal organization." The 16th Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the verdict.

A court ordered her arrest in the case concerning the 2014 Kobanî protests, where 108 HDP members are facing aggravated life sentences for having allegedly organized the deadly protests by orders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

On March 15, 2021, the Seka State Hospital in Kocaeli diagnosed Tuğluk with dementia.

At the hearing of the Kobanî trial on August 1, Tuğluk was forced to defend herself. "I don't know what happened and when it happened. I don't know what I'm on trial for."

At the hearing on August 5, the court ruled for her release, but her imprisonment continued because of her previous sentence.

The Constitutional Court on August 12 rejected an application for Tuğluk's release.

Aysel Tuğluk is still kept at the Kandıra Prison in Kocaeli.

About Aysel Tuğluk

Politician and lawyer.

She was the founding member and Co-Chair of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and elected Diyarbakır MP in 2007-2009. She became the Van MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in 2011-2015. She served as the Vice Co-Chair of the HDP responsible for Law and Human Rights.

Aysel Tuğluk was also a member of the Society and Law Studies Foundation Executive Board, a member of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and the founder of the Patriotic Women's Association.

Born in Elazığ in 1965, she graduated from the Faculty of Law of İstanbul University and worked as a self-employed lawyer.

(RT/VK)