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An imprisoned human rights lawyer in Turkey has died, with his dramatic protest seeking a fair trial for himself and 17 of his colleagues, writes MTI, according to a Turkish organization called the Association of Advanced Lawyers.
Ebru Timkit, 42, died Thursday night in an Istanbul hospital after a 238-day hunger strike. He was hospitalized in July and weighed only 30 kilograms at the time of his death.
Timkit and his fellow inmates have been closed on charges of affiliation to a far-left group called the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party (DHKP-C), which has been branded a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Timkit was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison last March, but his case has not been closed because he has gone to an appeals court that has not yet sentenced him. The woman went on a hunger strike in February with one of her colleagues, whose condition is also already in crisis.
Turkish opposition parties have long questioned the impartiality and independence of the judiciary in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s country. Lawyers have reported a series of irregularities and interventions by the authorities, including the dismissal of the judges who had originally ordered the lifting of the preventive detention of 18 lawyers.
On Friday, a crowd gathered in Istanbul to pay tribute to Timki in memory. Police prevented the participants from marching with tear gas and rubber bullets and detained at least one lawyer.
A couple of months ago, two members of a popular left-wing folk band also died from a hunger strike. They were also accused of being affiliated with the Frente del Partido Revolucionario de Liberación Popular.
In Turkey, hunger strikers often consume only liquids, but also take vitamins to prolong their protest.
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