Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Group Deputy Chairs Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit and Sezai Temelli submitted a parliamentary question to the Parliament on the prevention of the release of seriously ill prisoners Abdulkadir Kuday and Ergin Aktaş. In the justification of the parliamentary question demanding an answer by Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç, it was stated that the situation of ill prisoners is one of the most human rights violations in prisons. 

 

ABDULKADIR KUDAY 

 

The motion also included the following information about both ill prisoners: “The condition of Abdulkadir Kuday, who we have repeatedly applied for his release and submitted a law proposal to remove the legal obstacle to his release, but is still in prison, is getting worse day by day. Kuday had a herniated disc surgery in 2021, 3 months later it was realized that he was misdiagnosed, then he was diagnosed with ALS disease and became bedridden with partial paralysis. On October 30, 2023, the Forensic Medicine Institution issued a report stating that ‘he cannot manage his life on his own'. He currently weighs under 40 kilograms, has difficulty breathing, the disease has spread to his internal organs, and he cannot even be fed with formula. He is transferred to the hospital once a month in a ring car, and the unhealthy conditions of the ring car aggravate his illness. There is also no specialist physician at the hospital for this disease. Kuday's reason for not being released is the regulation in Article 25 of the Law on the Execution of Sentences, which states that ‘in aggravated life imprisonment, execution cannot be interrupted under any circumstances”.

 

ENGIN AKTAŞ 

 

Ergin Aktaş, who is in the same ward with Kuday and has two hands amputated at the wrists and suffers from COPD and tuberculosis, has been given 6 separate 'cannot stay in prison' reports by the Forensic Medicine Institution since 2013, but Aktaş is not being released due to the 'security' report from the police, which includes the phrase 'dangerous'. According to paragraph 6 of Article 16 of the Law on the Execution of Sentences, Aktaş is prevented from being released on the grounds that he would pose a 'grave and concrete danger to public security'.

 

With the release of Serdal Yıldırım, who was in the same ward with these two ill prisoners on August 19, 2024, it has become impossible for Ergin Aktaş and Abdulkadir Kuday to meet each other's needs. Moreover, the fact that sick prisoners are obliged to take care of each other in this way when they should be released, puts additional physical and psychological strain on them. This approach of the Ministry is contrary to the basic principle that prisoners should be able to lead a life in accordance with human dignity.”

 

DEM Party Group Deputy Chairs addressed the following questions to Yılmaz:

 

“*Is it not against human dignity for Ergin Aktaş and Abdulkadir Kuday, two ill prisoners whose conditions are described above, to remain in prison under these conditions?

 

*Is it not a violation of the right to access to health and the right to life that they are not released despite the report issued by the Judicial Medicine Institution stating that they cannot stay in prison alone?

*Isn't the regulation in Article 25 of the Execution Law that execution cannot be interrupted under any circumstances torture and ill-treatment in the context of the right to hope? When will you implement the ECtHR's Öcalan/Gurban/Kaytan judgments against Turkey on this issue?

 

*Considering that Ministry is responsible for the ill prisoners who lost their lives due to legal obstacles and arbitrary administrative practices, will you take steps to release Ergin Aktaş and Abdulkadir Kuday in line with the ATK reports?”

 

DEM PARTY MPS ALSO SUBMITTED A PETITION 

 

Several DEM Party MPs have also petitioned the Presidency of the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission for a delegation to visit Abdulkadir Kuday and Engin Aktaş.