Academic who had a heart attack in prison denied treatment

İsmet Özçelik, a Turkish academic who was forcibly brought from Malaysia to Turkey in 2017 due to his alleged links to the Gülen movement, had a heart attack in prison in Turkey’s Denizli province several days ago and he was not taken to hospital, according to Twitter messages from his family.

Suat Özçelik, son of the jailed academic, shared a twitter message, writing they learned from the family lawyer that his father had a heart attack in his cell about ten days ago, adding that his family was not informed about the situation.

Suat Özçelik also informed that his father was a cardiac patient and underwent an angiography to rule out pulmonary embolism in 2016.

Other family members also tweeted on health condition of the academic, calling for human rights organization and politicians to take action before it is too late.

It is reported that 60-year-old Özçelik is held in an overcrowded cell in very poor conditions, which he shares with  24 other people.

On July 26, 2019 The Konya 2nd High Criminal Court, where Özçelik stood trial,  handed down a nine-year, 11 month sentence to Özçelik on charges of membership in a terrorist organization and disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization.

Özçelik was unable to participate in the hearing for a time due to a technical problem in the IT Voice and Image System (SEGBİS). In the meantime, the court began to draft its final ruling in violation of judicial rules because the defendant’s final defense had not been heard.

The family reported that the final court ruling severely deteriorated academic’s health condition.

In May the UN Human Rights Committee called on the Turkish authorities to release Özçelik, saying the country had violated the his freedoms.

“The State party is obligated … to release the authors (of the complaint) and provide them with adequate compensation for the violations suffered,” the committee’s report on the case said, noting that Turkey’s membership in an international rights covenant required it to act and provide “effective remedy.”

 

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from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/academic-who-had-a-heart-attack-in-prison-denied-treatment/