MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

News Center- 605 sick prisoners have been held in prisons across Turkey, according to the report released by the Human Rights Association (IHD). One of these prisoners is Muhlise Karagüzel, former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Muş Co-chair, who was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison after being detained on August 11, 2019, in Muş province. 60-year-old Muhlise Karagüzel has hard times in the Kayseri Bünyan Women's Closed Prison due to her chronic diseases and she is at risk of losing her vision now. She had two heart attacks in April, “If she has another heart attack, she may die,” her doctor warned her family.

“She is kept in quarantine whenever she returns from the hospital”

After suffering from two heart attacks, her lawyers demanded her release but their demand was rejected. Muhlise Karagüzel is also an asthma patient and she has difficulties walking in prison due to a hernia. She has to take her medicines in time. Her daughter Zilan Karagüzel pointed out that going to the hospital during the pandemic has turned into torture for her mother. Zilan also reported to us that her mother is kept in quarantine for 14 or 20 days whenever she returns from the hospital. “My mother cannot meet her needs alone,” she told us.

“She had two heart attacks in a week”

Muhlise Karagüzel had two heart attacks in a week in the prison. “Her last surgery in prison was turbinectomy surgery. She could breathe through the mouth. We demanded surgery for her. My mother had surgery very late. She has difficulty in breathing because she is also an asthma patient. After the last quarantine, she didn’t feel good when she went to her ward. She was taken to the infirmary and the doctors understood that she had had a heart attack. She was immediately taken to Kayseri State Hospital. But we were informed about her heart attacks after two weeks.”

“She was treated as handcuffed”

Muhlise Karagüzel had an angioplasty surgery at the hospital. “I took permission from the prosecutor to see my mother at the hospital. She was treated as handcuffed. Her doctor told us, ‘We couldn’t treat her as we do for a normal patient’ due to her high blood sugar levels. Despite that, my mother isn’t given diet meals in the prison. She is at risk of losing her vision now.”

“All patients should be released from prison”

Zilan Karagüzel told us there are hundreds of patients, including her mother, in prisons across Turkey. “We demanded her release many times but their demands were rejected. There are hundreds of patients held in prisons. All patients held in prisons should be released unconditionally.”