85-Year-Old Ill Prisoner on Parliamentary Agenda

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish 

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Fatma Kurtulan has submitted a parliamentary question regarding the situation of Sise Bingöl, an 85-year-old ill inmate in the Tarsus Prison in Mersin province.

In the parliamentary question, the report of the İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine on Bingöl, which concluded that the inmate "is making efforts to make herself look bad", is also included. Contrarily, a report by Mersin University stated that staying in prison would threaten Bingöl's life.

Two contradicting medical reports

Bingöl's attorneys appealed for an indefinite postponement to her sentence because of her health problems.

Following the application, Bingöl was sent to Mersin University Center for Medical Research and Practice on November 2, 2018. The examinations here concluded that Bingöl "has lost physical functioning by 97 percent, has lung cancer, urinary incontinence, does not remember what she ate a day before, does not remember the names of people whom she lives with and is not able to differentiate between night and day."

The report said that in case Bingöl's sentence is executed in prison, her life would be in danger.

CLICK - 'Hospitalized Ill Prisoner Sise Bingöl Should Be Released'

After that, İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine 3rd Expertise Council released its own report on Bingöl.

In the report, it was said that Bingöl "is making efforts to make herself look bad" and that because Bingöl does not speak Turkish, most of the tests regarding the psychometric examination could not be conducted.

The report concluded, "Bingöl can sustain her life by her own efforts in prison."

Sise Bingöl is still in prison.

"Which report is not true?"

In his parliamentary question, HDP MP Kurtalan has directed the following questions to Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül:

*For what reason is Bingöl not released despite the report by Mersin University Center for Medical Research and Practice?

*What is the legal reason for İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine's conclusion that "Bingöl can stay in prison", although it did not conduct most of the tests regarding the psychometric examination?

*Isn't it clear enough that an 85-year-old person, even without any illness, cannot sustain her life by her own efforts and meet her needs in prison?

What happened?

Sise Bingöl was arrested in Varto district of Muş province in 2016. After two-and-a-half months of arrest, she was released in the first hearing. After a prison sentence of 4 years and 2 months was approved by the Erzurum Regional Court of Appeal, she was arrested again in April 2017 and put in prison.

Bingöl needed to be kept under constant checkup because of her disorders related to heart, blood pressure, lung, and uterus. Yet the Tarsus State Hospital's report stated that staying in prison does not pose a life-threatening situation for Bingöl.

A petition has been launched for Bingöl's release.

You can sign the petition from this link.

(AS/VK)