A Turkish prison board has rejected a release request from a severely disabled prisoner, citing a disciplinary penalty for chanting slogans despite a forensic medical report finding that he cannot remain in prison without assistance, the Fırat News Agency (ANF) reported.
The Administration and Observation Board at Marmara Prison said İrfan Yılmaz, 59, had failed to demonstrate good conduct because of the penalty. His legal guardian, Hasan Toğan, said 12 prisoners had chanted the slogans but Yılmaz was disciplined. He was also given a visitation ban.
Yılmaz uses a wheelchair and requires assistance with basic daily activities, including eating, personal hygiene and using the toilet, due to cerebellar ataxia, a progressive neurological condition. A November 2025 report by Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) concluded that he could not remain in prison without assistance.
Yılmaz has a 96 percent disability rating under Turkey’s medical disability classification, which assigns percentages based on the severity of medical conditions and loss of bodily function.
Despite the report, the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office rejected Yılmaz’s request to suspend his sentence on health grounds in December 2025, citing a police assessment that said his release could pose a threat to public safety.
Yılmaz, a former responsible editor of the Halk Okulu magazine, was sentenced by the İstanbul 28th High Criminal Court in January 2025 to more than two years in prison for disclosing the identities of public officials involved in counterterrorism operations. He began serving the sentence in October 2025.
The Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) called for Yılmaz’s immediate release on Wednesday after visiting him in prison on September 21, saying his condition had deteriorated during his imprisonment.
Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a lawmaker from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and a human rights defender, also called for Yılmaz’s release, criticizing authorities for keeping him in prison despite the forensic medical report.
The board had previously rejected Yılmaz’s request for transfer to an open prison in June, saying he had not submitted a statement declaring that he had left the outlawed organization with which authorities associated him. Yılmaz was not convicted of membership in a terrorist organization.
Under Turkey’s Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures, courts may suspend the sentence of a prisoner who, due to a serious illness or disability, cannot sustain life in prison conditions and who is not considered a serious or concrete danger to society. Rights groups say the provision is very rarely applied in practice.
