Turkish prosecutor denies Kurdish politician early release despite severe illness

A Turkish prosecutor denied Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk early release following a forensic medicine report that claimed she was fit to remain incarcerated despite previous medical views that her condition was serious and developing.

Monday September 13 2021 10:40 am

Duvar English

The Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institution ruled that former Democratic Society Party (DTP) former co-chair Aysel Tuğluk could remain incarcerated because she was able to carry on with daily life without assistance despite severe health conditions she suffers from, Mesopotamia Agency reported on Sep. 11.

Incarcerated for over five years, Tuğluk was diagnosed with an illness that she wished to keep secret from the public, but that experts have said require her immediate release from prison.

The forensic medicine report rules that Tuğluk could "carry on with her life alone, and her treatment and check-ups can be provided in prison to allow her to continue execution of her sentence."

The forensic medicine report prompted the Kocaeli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to turn down a petition for Tuğluk's early release despite a report by the Kocaeli University Forensic Medicine Department that issues could arise for the politician's treatment in prison.

The university report deemed Tuğluk's condition chronic and spreading, and that her housing in a correctional facility would not be possible, and had urged the delay of her execution.

The Legal Commission of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has been supervising the legal proceedings surrounding Tuğluk's medical condition, commission co-chair Ümit Dede said.

"Her lawyers have filed an appeal to the prosecutor's ruling," Dede added. "The Forensic Medicine Institution's ruling about Tuğluk is political, we don't accept it."

HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan also noted on social media that Tuğluk was having serious health issues in prison, and added that she should be released immediately.