ISTANBUL - Ill prisoner Serhat Karsu in Dumlu High Security Prison No. 1 said that his treatment was blocked and the prison doctor told him, "I am not sending you anywhere. If you die, you will die here."

 

The Erzirom(Erzurum) Branch of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) announced in its report on the violations of rights in Erzurum Dumlu Prison that political prisoners were tortured and their right to access communication, health and treatment was denied. Ill prisoner Serhat Karsu, who is in Dumlu No. 1 High Security Prison, has been denied the right to treatment and his narratives about what happened revealed the extent of the violations of rights in the prison. Karsu, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013 within the scope of the lawsuit filed against him and has been transferred to many prisons, has been held in Dumlu Prison for about 2 years. Karsu, who has reflux disease and has not been able to reach treatment for two years, is at risk of cancer.

 

Her older sister Aynur Taş, who met with the ill prisoner Karsu last week, stated that the prison administration dragged the prisoners to death with their practices and called for awareness of the public.

 

PRISON DOCTOR: YOU WILL DIE HERE

 

Stating that his brother was diagnosed with the disease 6 years ago and his right to treatment has been prevented today, Taş said: "The prison administration did not send him to the hospital to wait for my brother's death. My brother made a request to the doctor in prison saying, 'Send me to the hospital,' but the doctor there said to him, 'I don't listen to anyone. I'm not sending you anywhere. If you die, you will die here'. His disease is so advanced that he has no tooth left in his mouth due to stomach acid. He said that he could no longer eat and that he had difficulty in drinking water."

 

'TRYING TO DRIVE US TO SUICIDE'

 

Noting that the pressure on prisoners has increased in the prison, Taş said: The political prisoners are held in single cells. My brother said on the phone as follows: 'They keep us all in single rooms. But when we shout and call, we can hear each other's voices. Take care of us. They even installed iron bars on the ventilation windows. We can no longer distinguish between night and day. They are trying to drive us to suicide.”

 

'ILL PRISONERS SHOULD BE TREATED'

 

Stating that they applied to the Ministry of Justice against the oppression and intimidation policies in the prison, but they could not get any response, Taş called for the ill prisoners to be treated as soon as possible."