Yılmaz Anar, who was paralyzed in a fall from a height two years ago, faces imprisonment due to a conviction despite having a medical report documenting his disabilities, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.
Anar can perform almost no physical function except for opening his eyes and is fed with formula, the report said.
He was handed down a prison sentence of more than three years, although the reports in the Turkish media did not clarify the charges against him.
Family members said Anar occasionally suffers attacks during which he can’t breathe and that as a result they keep a respirator in their home.
Law enforcement officers who arrived at their home and saw his condition did not want to take him to prison, and an on-duty prosecutor who was presented with his medical report sent him to a local hospital’s inmate ward as a temporary measure.
Relatives told the media that there was still uncertainty about what will happen next.
Human rights groups in Turkey frequently report indifference on the part of the authorities when it comes to the situation of convicts suffering from significant illness or disabilities.
The country’s prisons are often described as overly crowded, unhygienic and not fit to accommodate inmates with specific needs. In many cases prison administrations reportedly fail to deliver medication and meals prescribed for inmates by their doctors.
Access to healthcare is another systemic problem as rights groups often complain about lengthy waiting times for appointments and obstruction of hospital referrals on arbitrary grounds such as the inmates’ refusal to undergo treatment in handcuffs or submit to overly invasive body searches during transfers.
