Prisoner with disabilities who was kept in solitary confinement dies

Photo: MA

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Bekir Güven, who was 98 percent disabled and was arrested in 2021 because of his social media posts, has lost his life. He was released from prison after staying in a one-person cell for three days.

He had been under treatment for about four months at Eskişehir's Yunus Emre State Hospital, where he was taken following his release. His funeral will be held tomorrow (June 18).

He was remanded in custody on September 20, after his 22-month prison sentence was upheld.

He was released after the Forensic Medicine Institution (ATK) approved a medical report by the hospital's health committee that his sentence should be postponed.

Güven, who was not able to take care of himself and in need of 24-hour care, was kept in a solitary cell in prison.

After the ATK's decision, he was taken to the hospital not by an ambulance but by a vehicle belonging to the prison.

His spouse, Rukiye Güven, had told the Mezopotamya Agency (MA) at the time that the few he remained under arrest caused his disease to "progress four years."

"He fell to the ground twice and had a brain hemorrhage. His condition is critical. Doctors say he won't make it out of the hospital alive," she had said.

Having difficulty speaking, Bekir Güven had said after his release that "it was the worst three days of my life."

"Prisons are not suitable for ill prisoners. When I was being taken out, one police officer tried to handcuff me," he had said.

According to the Human Rights Association (İHD), there were some 1,517 ill prisoners, with 651 of them seriously ill, in Turkey's prisons as of the end of April. (HA/VK)