Ayşe Barım, a well-known manager of Turkish television stars who faces up to 30 years in prison on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government” due to her alleged role in the anti-government Gezi Park protests in 2013 is at risk of dying if she remains in custody, according to a medical report signed by nine specialists.
The Karar news website reported that Barım’s health has sharply deteriorated since her arrest in January. Following a referral from the court, a medical board at a state hospital in the Başakşehir district of İstanbul issued a report on July 2 detailing multiple critical conditions.
The doctors said Barım has serious heart disease that causes the heart muscle to thicken and beat irregularly as well as leaky heart valves that prevent normal blood flow. She urgently needs a pacemaker, the report said, warning that she could suffer sudden cardiac arrest at any time without it. The report also found a new brain aneurysm — a dangerous ballooning of an artery — near the site of two previous surgical stents. Because of its position, doctors cannot treat it for now and say it could rupture, leading to a brain hemorrhage, paralysis or death.
According to the petition filed with the court, Barım has fainted four times in the past month and was once found unresponsive on the ground by prison guards. In another incident, the lack of immediate medical intervention could have been fatal, her lawyers said. The medical report stressed that prison facilities cannot provide adequate or timely treatment in such emergencies.
Barım’s attorneys also noted that cardiac surgery had been scheduled before her arrest but could not be performed after she was detained. The doctors warned that without implantation of a pacemaker, her life could end at any moment.
Her lawyers previously applied for Barım’s release on May 20 and June 11, but the court rejected those requests. Following a fainting episode on June 5, the new medical report was submitted to support another application for release.
The defense team urged the court to rule on Barım’s release without waiting for the Council of Forensic Medicine’s (ATK) opinion, arguing that otherwise the prison system would bear responsibility for any fatal consequences.
The ATK frequently comes under criticism over its questionable reports that find ailing inmates fit to remain in prison. Rights advocates slam the agency over its lack of independence from political influence and its role in compounding the persecution of political prisoners.
Barım was arrested in January on allegations dating to 2013, when protests erupted over the government’s urbanization plans for Gezi Park in İstanbul, sparking a wave of demonstrations against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time.
Prosecutors accused her of “pushing” her actors to take part in the anti-government demonstrations, a claim she denies.
A 171-page indictment, accusing her of “attempting to overthrow the government,” has been accepted by the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court, which set the date for the first hearing of her trial on July 7.
Barım faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office claims Barım had extensive communications with high-profile figures convicted or accused in previous Gezi-related trials, including philanthropist Osman Kavala, film producer Çiğdem Mater Utku and exiled actor Memet Ali Alabora. Prosecutors allege she played a role in coordinating actors’ involvement in the protests.
The investigation into Barım came more than a decade after the Gezi Park protests. Turkish authorities have repeatedly revisited the demonstrations in legal proceedings, targeting activists, opposition figures and businesspeople.
Her case has sparked widespread criticism, with opposition politicians and human rights advocates arguing that it reflects a broader crackdown on dissent and government control over the entertainment sector.
Barım has denied all the allegations against her.
