Parliamentary question on 'sexually assaulted' LGBTI+ prisoner in Eskişehir

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Held in the Eskişehir Type-H Prison, Akbaş said he was subjected to physical and psychological violence and sexual assault, according to reports.

"The letters of Akbaş, who wrote many times to convey what he lived through to the public and non-governmental organizations, did not pass the letter reading commission," said Gülüm. "As a last resort, Akbaş sent a letter to the Civil Society Association in the Penal Execution System [CİSST], saying, 'I want to see an attorney, I can't write what I have experienced in the letter'.

"After arranging a meeting with an attorney, he was able to tell them that he had been sexually assaulted multiple times by other prisoners and he had been subjected to psychological and physical violence from prison guards."

Akbaş also told the attorney that he was put in the same ward with a person hostile to him and when he requested a meeting with prison officers, he was told "Maybe we'll meet him if you cut yourself," which he said he did.

He was then sent to the hospital and put in a cell when he returned to the prison, which led him to attempt suicide. He said he was later put in a 30-people ward and sexually assaulted there.

MP Gülüm asked Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül whether the reports were true and why an investigation was not launched into the claims. (DSH/EMK/VK)