Pandemic is now in prisons: Supreme Court must finalize the appeal   

2020-04-26 14:55:19


	İSTANBUL- The representatives of law and human rights organizations state their concerns regarding the COVID-19 is now reached to the prisons and called out to the Constitutional Court to finalize the appeal regarding the cancellation of the new execution law.

	On April 13, Prime Minister Abdülhamit Gül announced that 3 prisoners lost their lives due to coronavirus. On April 21, İzmir DA Office announced that the coronavirus tests of the 64 prisoners in Buca Closed Prison came out to be positive.

	 

	CHP (Republican People's Party), holding the biggest number of opposition chairs in the parliement, appealed to the Supreme Court for the cancellation of the new "amnesty regulation" in the exectuion law. 

	 

	TİHV: RIGHT TO LIVE IS OUT UNDER RISK

	 

	Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Board Member Prof. Dr. Ümit Biçer told that "Current execution law gives recognizes no punishment of death for any of the crimes, but with this regulation, some prisoners' lives are unofficially put under risk. It is such a big problem to link the prisoners, whose right to live are put ander risk, with the execution law and to drawn them in the discussions of the exectuion law. We are expecting the Supreme Court to take necessary steps against the risk of death that prisoners are about to face due to the pandemic."

	 

	ÖHD: PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE IS OVERSEEN

	 

	Stating that the execution law discriminates between the prisoners and detainess, Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) İstanbul Branch Manager lawyer Arzu Eylem Kayaoğlu said: "Prisoners are sentenced to prison following the conviction of a crime. The prisoners, on the other hand, continue to be on trial. So the prisoners are subject to the presumption of innocence. Therefore the execution law should have first take into account the prisoners, but vice versa happenned and the presumption of innocence was overseen."

	 

	İHD: SUPREME COURT SHOULD PRIORITIZE THE APPEAL FILE

	 

	Calling the new execution law "a covered amnesty", Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch Manager Gülseren Yoleri said: "We know that in certain case like this where the right to live is under question, Supreme Court has the power to prioritize the file. The amnesty law was carried to the Supreme Court in 1991 and the court has accepted the demands of the political prisoners of that time, excluding Kurds. So the Supreme Court is only able to broaden the extend of the law as long as the political power lets. There are many examples of this in the past. Now we observe even a more hostile approach. This time, it is very highly likely that all political prisoners may remain excluded."

	 

	ÇHD: GOVERNMENT LEAVES POLITICAL PRISONERS TO DEATH WITH THE LAW

	 

	The İstanbul Branch Chair of The Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD), which was closed by the statuory decrees (KHK's), lawyer Gökmen Yeşil support the idea that the execution law should not be only discussed within the borders of the "equality principle". Yeşil notes the following remark: "Government leaves the political prisoner to death with the execution law. Therefore, the regulation should be rejected by the Supreme Court. Supreme Court should take the right to live into consideration and should leave all the files they are currently working on and dedicate themselves to investigate the appeal for the execution law. Because what is at tke stake here is the right to live."

	 

	MA / Naci Kaya - Erdoğan Alayumat