ANKARA - Stating that the Forensic Medicine Institude (FMI) under the control of the state is far from being scientific, Forensic Medicine Speacialist Prof. Dr. Biçer said the FMI lets people die in prison.

 

While the numbers of ill prisoners sky rocketing in Turkey, the reports that says the ill prisoners can remain in prison by the FMI is widely discussed. Hundreds of seriously ill prisoners are held in prison with these reports when they clearly can not remain in prison. More than 100 ill prisoners lost their lives in prisons in the last 6 years. According to the 2020 report of the Human's Rights Association (İHD) 16 ill prisoners lost their lives in prison during the year while 5 of them lost their lives right after they were released.

 

Even though the public hospitals gives reports to ill prisoners that proves that they are not fit to remain in prison, the FMI controlled by the state reverses these reports. Regarding Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, Kocaeli University Faculty of Forensic Medicine stated that "her disease is chronic and progressive, there may be problems in the adequacy of the medical support and care that can be provided in prison conditions, she cannot live alone in prison conditions, her sentence must postponed". However the FMI prepared a report that says there is no obstacles in front of Tuğluk to remain in prison. The FMI also prepared a similar report for 83-year-old seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Emin Özkan who is frequently hospitalized.

 

Forensic Specialist Prof. Dr. Ümit Biçer made evaluations about the structure of the FMI, its relationship with the political power and its contradictory decisions.

 

OBSTACLE IN FRONT OF THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

 

Biçer stated that FMI works as an institution completely affiliated to the Ministry of Justice, with the regulations made in 1982, and that it creates an obstacle for the law to make independent decisions. Organizations such as FMI work under the establishment of an official expert institution affiliated to the state in places where totalitarian regimes are strong in the world. FMI has been established as an expert body and have been given powers to affect the extraordinary trial process with legal regulations . From this point of view, it takes on a structure that prevents the state from acting uniformly in all decisions and it prevents the independent decision-making processes of the law.”

 

'NO HIERARCHY IN EXPERTISE'

 

Biçer said that the decisions made by the FMI were far from being scientific and that the expert committee had insufficient people in terms of expertise. Biçer noted that FMI should update itself and follow the developments in its field, Biçer said the people who are employed by the FMI do not do so. Biçer said: "There is no hierarchy in expertise. The expert should have scientific knowledge, which is essential for the evaluation. It is necessary to decide on the basis of this scientific information and the ethical principles of the profession. FMI does not take these principles into account.”

 

'THEY ACT AS SELF-PROCLAIMED JUDGES'

 

Stating that FMI has always displayed a conservative approach towards ill prisoners, Biçer said, “ATK considers themselves as judges. Instead of prioritizing people's lives, they think how they can strictly enforce the legislation so that the prisoners stay in prison. There is no standard approach that FMI takes as a basis for evaluation. Scientifically speaking, it is a great punishment for an ill prisoner to have difficulties in living, and to be deprived of his freedom at the same time." 

 

'FMI IS CONTROLLED BY THE RULING PARTIES'

 

Underlining that the approach of the FMI have never changed in the last 30 years, Biçer said: "While the ATK should interpret the law based on scientific knowledge, it acts in the same way today as it made its decisions 30 years ago. They're almost proud of it. They want to say, 'We used to keep ill prisoners in prison as well, we consented to their death, we are doing the same thing now'. When there are changes in the laws that destroy freedoms and disregard the right to health, forensic medicine is worried about how to comply with the current legal regulations instead of emphasizing that this is a negative change in terms of health. They let people die in prison. They are enforcing the death sentence, which is removed from the Turkish Penal Code, in this way. We should consider the FMI as a part of the system enforced by the ruling party."

 

 

MA / Delal Akyüz