Özdal Dies, More Than 1 Thousand Inmates Await Medical Treatment

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According to Human Rights Association’s (İHD) report, there are 1,154 ill prisoners in prisons, 402 in critical condition.

One of the ill prisoners Koçer Özdal (65) lost his life three days ago (August 27).

According to Ministry of Justice’s statement last year, the number of detained and convicted who lost their lives in prisons over the last eight years is 2 thousand 300. The ministry didn’t explain cause of the deaths.

Distribution of these deaths by years is as follows:

242 in 2009

260 in 2010

285 in 2011

286 in 2012

265 in 2013

312 in 2014

373 in 2015

277 convicts as of October 2016

"He lost his life without getting a chance to say goodbye to his family"

In her statement regarding Özdal’s death, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Law and Human Rights Commission Spokesperson and Batman MP Ayşe Acar Başaran spoke about right violations that ill prisoners face:

“65-year-old seriously ill prisoner Koçer Özdal lost his life with handcuffs in his hands and feet, in intensive care under inhumane conditions even without having the chance to bid farewell to his family.

“Justice, human rights, universal legal norms aside, no person, institution or state with conscience should have shut their eyes to this preventable death. While 3 thousand 503 ill prisoners lost their lives in prisons, it is clear that the government is persistent in overlooking these deaths”. (AS/TK)