Member of Turkey’s top judiciary, imprisoned lawlessly, faces risk of death

Mustafa Erdoğan, a dismissed member of Turkey’s top judiciary, has been kept imprisoned in a hospital room under police custody for 8 months despite facing risk of death, reported Turkish media.

Mustafa Erdoğan, a former member Court of Cassation, who was dismissed as part of the government’s post-coup purge of public institutions, has been kept in a holding cell at a private hospital since Dec. 30, 2016.

According to a news story published by Aktif Haber news portal, judicial authorities do not take any note of medical reports even though judge Erdoğan had a brain hemorrhage and was suffering from diabetes mellitus. Despite having four insulin shots, Erdoğan still suffers from diabetic complications. Having broken foot vessels and purple spots on the body, Erdoğan cannot satisfy his needs at intervals.

Despite medical experts told, “When conditions are suitable, therapy can proceed at home. Staying a long time in jail and hospital increases the risk of infection,” the authorities blank the facts.

According to a striking report released by Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) on Mach 22, 2017 with the title of “Suspicious Deaths And Suicides In Turkey” there has been an increase in the number of suicides and suspicious deaths in Turkey, most in Turkish jails and detention centers where a torture and ill-treatment is being practiced.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting participants of the Gülen movement in jails.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has announced on July 7, 2017 that at least 50,504 people have been arrested and 168,801 have been the subject of legal proceedings (investigations, detentions etc.) in Turkey in the framework of the Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement since the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Among the detainees are some 560 children aged between 0 to 6. Also, arrest warrants have been issued for 8,069 people, according to Bozdağ.

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