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The Turkish Court of Cassation ordered the immediate release for health reasons of lawyer Aytac Unsal, who has been on a hunger strike for 213 days to protest against his 10 and a half year sentence for “terrorist association”, to one week. of the death in prison of his colleague Ebru Timtik after 238 days of fasting.
The judges ruled that Unsal should be “released immediately” in light of the “danger to his life being in prison.” In recent days, doctors had raised the alarm about the deterioration of the 32-year-old lawyer’s general condition and the weakening of his immune system in the face of the additional risk of a possible coronavirus infection. His release is expected to take place in the next few hours. The death of Ebru Timtik had aroused strong indignation and emotion in Turkey and abroad, with accusations against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan of having ignored to the extreme the demands of the peaceful protest of the lawyers, who denounced political convictions and demanded a review of their cases. Both had long been engaged in defending left-wing activists, and the judiciary accused them of supporting the Marxist-Leninist organization Dhkp-c, described as “terrorist.” In July, Unsal and Timtik were transferred to various hospitals, still in detention conditions. Today’s Supreme Court decision came in conjunction with the visit to Turkey by the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Robert Spano, who also met with President Erdogan.
“The release of lawyer Aytac Unsal is a victory for the mobilization of civil society that has not given up – said Giuliano PIsapia MEP, former defense lawyer for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan – who fought for him and for those who suffer under the regime of Erdogan. It is the victory of the lawyers, magistrates, university professors who demonstrated in Turkey and Europe to demand his release. The mobilization for the protection of human and civil rights in Turkey must not cease despite the deafening silence from several countries. Europeans “.
