Prisoner Güneş laid to rest

Ill prisoner Halil Güneş, who was on the list of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and was not released despite several calls, was found dead on Wednesday in his solitary confinement cell in the Diyarbakır High Security Prison No. 2. The body of Güneş was brought from Amed to Adana and kept in the Buruk Cemetery Morgue.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies Tülay Hatimoğulları, Muazzez Orhan Işık and Kemal Peköz, managers of TJA, HDP, DBP, AYKAY-DER, AATUHAY-DER and numerous other people attended the funeral, where the condition of other ill prisoners was addressed. Güneş was buried in Buruk Cemetery.

‘WE WILL CONTINUE HIS STRUGGLE TO THE END’

HDP deputy Tülay Hatimoğulları made a speech at the ceremony. “He was one of the brave people who paid the price to struggle for the Kurdish people. We lost three ill prisoners in just 48 hours. One of them was Halil Güneş.  I bow respectfully to the memory of all martyrs of revolution and democracy who lost their lives in this honourable struggle, and I offer my condolences to the Güneş Family, the Kurdish people, and all of us. In an interview, our comrade Halil said ‘We love life so much that we could die for it. We fought to end a dishonourable life, hunger and poverty. We fought for the Kurdish people to speak their language and to live in this country with dignity, and we will not hesitate to lose our lives for this cause.’ We promise once again that we will continue his struggle to the end.”

The Adana MP added: “The number of ill prisoners in prisons is quite high. We held talks with the Ministry of Justice and addressed the situation of each and everyone of them. We request that the ministry review the medical reports prepared by the Forensic Medicine Institutions. Unfortunately, the Forensic Medicine Institute is under the influence of the current authoritarian regime and no ill prisoner is actually receiving a proper report. Our friend Halil could have spent the last days of his illness at a hospital or at his mother’s house. But he was not allowed to do so. Mehmet Emin Özkan is 83 years old and has contracted coronavirus. He wanted to return to prison again because he preferred prison over a hospital, and he is in prison now.”

Hatimoğulları demanded the release of ill prisoners. “Prison conditions should be changed in a way to treat ill prisoners under humane conditions. We will continue to struggle to create the necessary conditions. We promise that we will continue to fight together until this country becomes a free and democratic country.”