MARDİN - Protesting the suspicious death of the prisoner Garibe Gezer, the women said, ‘’Garibe did not die, she was killed. The isolation conditions killed Garibe’’.

 

The Free Women’s Movement (TJA) activists in Mardin held a press release in front of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Mardin Provincial Organization regarding the suspicious death of Garibe Gezer, who was imprisoned in Kocaeli Kandıra No. 1 F Type Closed Prison. TJA activists, Peace Mothers Council, Democratic Regions Party (DBP), members of the Association for Assistance and Solidarity with Families who Lost Their Relatives in the Cradle of Civilizations (MEBYA-DER), HDP provincial and district organizations, as well as many people attended the statement.

 

TJA activist Eylem Amak read the press text on behalf of the mass in the statement which the banner unfurled as ‘’We are not in mourning we are in revolt, Garibe Gezer is immortal’’.

 

‘Garibe Gezer was killed’

 

Stating that prisons have became the focus of rights violations, battery and ill-treatment for a long time, Eylem noted that the main target in prisons called F-types, T-types, high-security and finally S-types is the implementation of intimidation-oppression and violence policies on prisoners. Eylem said, ‘’While her brother Mehmet Emin Gezer was asking for the perpetrators of his brother, he was shot and remain paralysed with a police bullet. The police officers who paralysed Mehmet Emin Gezer were protected with impunity. Another brother is in Elazığ Prison. In such a life cycle, Garibe was unfairly arrested in 2016 and sentenced. Latest, she was exiled from Bünyan Women’s Closed Prison to Kandıra No. 1 F Type Prison due to cell punishments. After being kept in a cell for 33 days in Kandıra No. 1 F Type Prison, she was taken to a cell as solitary. The petitions she wrote to go to near her friends were left unanswered’’.

 

‘Isolation conditions killed Garibe’

 

Stating that Garibe struggled against pressures but was subjected to rape and torture by the guards as a result of her struggle, Eylem said, ‘’Garibe was lifeful. Although she told her family that she was fine in her last phone call, she is not with us today. We lost Garibe - she was lost. We lost Garibe as a result of the whole isolation, the penal system that established for the purpose of killing every day, and physical-sexual assaults. Obstacles were created both during the autopsy process and at the prison entrance to the lawyers who wanted to follow the process in terms of identifying those responsible for this suffering. Whatever is hidden, those responsible are there. In order for those responsible to give an account, all those responsible in the relevant penal institution should be dismissed immediately and an effective investigation should be initiated against them’’.

 

‘We invite everyone to take responsibility’

 

Reminding that politician and prisoner Aysel Tuğluk was also in heavy conditions, Eylem said that Aysel is not alone. Eylem ended her speech with the following words, ‘’Garibe did not die, she was killed. We invite everyone to be sensitive and take responsibility in terms of revealing all those responsible. Inspections with impartial delegations should be carried out immediately in the prisons, which are the centers of oppression and torture. We reiterate our call to the public opinion to end arbitrariness and invite them to be responsible’’.

 

The statement ended with the slogans ‘’Bijî berxwedana zindanan’’, ‘’Jin jiyan azadî’’, ‘’Şehîd namirin’’, ‘’Ey şehîd xwîna te li erdê namîne’’.