‘Hospitals are not police stations or prisons, stop misusing them’

* Photos: Fatoş Erdoğan

Click to read the article in Turkish

İstanbul Medical Chamber Executive Board has released a written statement about the police blockade around the hospital where death-fasting arrested lawyer Ebru Timtik is currently held in İstanbul.

In its statement entitled "Hospitals are not police stations or prisons," the chamber has raised their concerns over the police blockade in front of the Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital.

The chamber has made the following call to the Bakırköy Public Prosecutor's Office, İstanbul Provincial Directorate of Health and other related authorities:

"Our hospitals are not police stations, they are places that must be kept away from violence even under wartime conditions. The blockade around Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Hospital must be lifted immediately.

"A fair trial is the most basic right of citizens. Lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal, who are on the verge of death, must be released urgently."

The statement of the medical chamber has also shared details about the police blockade around the hospital where Timtik is held:

"Keeping watch in front of Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Hospital for days with the aim of supporting Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal, the members of Freedom to Defense Coordination were first faced with police intervention, then the banks in the hospital garden, which were used by patients and their relatives, have been removed by excavators.

"While police busses were positioned in the hospital garden, armed police vehicles and special operations teams with long-barreled weapons were added to them as of yesterday morning, thereby blockading the hospital."

'Hospitals are places where people seek a cure'

While Timtik has been on a death fast for 236 days, Ünsal has been on a death fast for 205 days. They both demand their "right to a fair trial."

Despite a Forensic Medicine Institution report indicating that "they are not in a state to stay in prison," they are held in two separate hospitals in İstanbul: Ebru Timtik in the Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital in Bakırköy and Aytaç Ünsal in Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Training and Research Hospital. Both hospitals are pandemic hospitals.

In its statement, the İstanbul Medical Chamber has said that "even though both lawyers openly declare that they do not accept medical intervention, they are held in hospital by force."

"On a death fast for days and rejecting medical treatment, the lawyers are forcibly held in hospital with a decision that has nothing to do with the law," the chamber has said and added: "We would like to remind the authorities: Hospitals are places where people seek a cure for their disease. The misuse of hospitals as prisons must be abandoned immediately."

What happened?

Announcing its verdict in the lawsuit filed against the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) lawyers on March 20, the court ruled that the lawyers should be sentenced to 3 years, 1 month, 15 days to 18 years, 9 months in prison. Among them were also Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal, who were sentenced to 13 years, 6 months and 10 years, 6 months in prison respectively on charge of "organization membership."

The 2nd Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice rejected the objections and sent the file to the Court of Cassation.

On a death fast in prison for their right to a fair trial, arrested lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal were not released despite a Forensic Medical report indicating that "they were not in a state to stay in prison." Shortly afterwards, they were taken to two separate hospitals on July 30.

An application was made to the Constitutional Court for arrested lawyers Timtik and Ünsal on August 10, 2020.

Rejecting death fasting lawyers' request for release, the Constitutional Court neither examined the medical reports nor their statements on not being treated at hospital. "There is no serious danger posed to their material or immaterial integrity," it has concluded. (AS/SD)