'My brother used to weigh 62 kilos, now he weighs 44'

Photo: Gökhan Yıldırım, who is on hunger strike, with his older brother Erkan Yıldırım

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Two prisoners, demanding a fair trial, are on hunger strike. Gökhan Yıldırım, in Tekirdağ F Type Prison, has been on a hunger strike for 182 days. Sibel Balaç, being held in Silivri Prison, has been on a hunger strike for 188 days.

They also demand the release of sick prisoners, the end of rights violations in prisons, and a change to the aggravated life imprisonment law.

Gökhan Yıldırım's elder brother, Erkan Yıldırım, told bianet that the 46.5-year prison sentence and 1,800 lira judicial fine were upheld by the Court of Cassation two weeks ago.

"This decision was a response to their resistance," said brother Erkan Yıldırım.

"He cannot even sit or lie down comfortably"

Erkan Yıldırım met with his brother on Wednesday (June 22) in prison. He said, "He weighed 62 kilos when he started the hunger strike, now he weighs 44 kilos. You can see his bones from the outside. There are cracks, redness, and bone pain in his hands and feet. He can't sit comfortably, can't sleep."

Yıldırım said that there is no problem regarding receiving vitamin B1 during the hunger strike.

Yıldırım previously marched to Ankara to make his brother's demands be heard. He also held a protest in front of the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.

No sentence reduction: "Negative personality"

Held in the Tekirdağ No. 1 Type F Prison in northwestern Turkey, 35-year-old Gökhan Yıldırım, as per a ruling dated 2018, has been sentenced to 46 years, 6 months in prison on charges of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization", "aggravated plunder", "deliberate injury", "violation of dwelling immunity", "property damage", "threat", "damage to public property", "forgery of official documents" and "purchasing unregistered weapons and bullets." He is also given an administrative fine of 1,800 lira.

Despite the decision to defer the pronouncement of the verdict in more than one case, no sentence reduction was given "due to his negative personality and past displayed by committing crimes again within the periods of supervision as well as his committal of more than one crime within the scope of the file, considering the deterrent effect of the penalty given."

Denied the accusations

Prisoner Yıldırım, who was a painter, stated the following at court:

"On September 13, 2016, I was stopped by the police in Esenyurt Cumhuriyet Square on my way to celebrate the holiday with my family. I was taken out of the vehicle and made to lie on the ground without being informed why. I was then put in an armored vehicle and taken to Esenyurt Kıraç Police Station, where I was kept for 2 hours. There I was constantly threatened and tortured during the 20 days I was detained. Starting on the 3rd day, I developed health problems..."

Yıldırım also said that he did not go on a hunger strike while he was in custody, contrary to what is written in the indictment. He could not eat for 20 days because he suffered from vomiting, dizziness, fainting, and stomach discomfort."

Yıldırım denied the accusations brought against him, saying that he is a part of a conspiracy against him. There is evidence pointing to the fact that he was elsewhere on the alleged days of the crime, and that the charges consisted entirely of statements taken under duress.

Gökhan Yıldırım also indicated that the things written about him in the indictment were the same for everyone else in a copy-paste manner, adding that as there was no evidence for the offenses charged against him in the indictment, the news stories that were cited from some websites and have nothing to do with him were added as findings. 

Violations of right to a fair trial in Turkey

The Constitutional Court has recently shared the statistics about individual applications and review of norms for the period of 2012-2022.

When the distribution of the top court rulings by violations of rights and freedoms in this period is considered, it is seen that "the right to a fair trial" is on the top of the list with 20,318 rulings, which accounted for 70.8 percent of all rulings of rights violations.

It is followed by the "violation of the right to property" with 10.6 percent, the "violation of freedom of expression" with 8.8 percent, and the "violation of the right to privacy and family life" with 2.6 percent. (AS/TB/SD)