Prison authorities in Turkey’s Eskişehir province have delayed the parole of a critically ill inmate by three months, the Mezopotamya News Agency reported.
Yılmaz Çerçel suffers from Alzheimer’s disease in addition to schizophrenia. His lawyer, Alisan Şahin, said Çerçel was not fit to remain in prison and called for his immediate release.
“Çerçel is currently battling two serious illnesses,” he said. “He no longer recognizes anyone and doesn’t even understand that he is in prison. Despite this, his parole has been delayed without any medical report to assess the current state of his health and determine whether he is fit for incarceration.”
The prison’s administrative observation board, responsible for granting parole, ruled that Çerçel had not shown remorse for his past crimes and continued associating with inmates allegedly linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Although his lawyers appealed the decision to the Eskişehir 1st High Criminal Court, the appeal was rejected.
Çerçel was arrested by the gendarmerie in March 1993 in southeastern Diyarbakır province. He was sentenced to life in prison for alleged ties to a terrorist organization and for “undermining the unity and integrity of the state.” The specific terrorist organization Çerçel is accused of being affiliated with has not been disclosed.
In 2000 he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and released from prisonfor admittance to a mental institution in Istanbul. However, two years later, he was returned to prison and has been incarcerated ever since.
Parole is granted in Turkish prisons based on the decision of administrative observation boards, established in January 2021, which have frequently delayed parole by three to six months, raising concerns over multiple rights violations. The boards have repeatedly delayed the release of inmates, citing “a lack of good behavior” or “failing to show remorse.”
Moreover, many prisoners remain behind bars despite medical reports saying they are not fit for prison and should be immediately released.
Poor health coupled with unsanitary and unsuitable prison conditions have resulted in the death of many sick inmates. Since 2002 more than 5,300 inmate deaths have been reported, including 709 in the first 11 months of 2024 alone.
