Two prisoners on death fast for over 3 months demanding a fair trial

Sibel Balaç went on death fast in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison. She has been fasting for 100 days.

Gökhan Yıldırım, who is in Tekirdağ F Type Prison No. 1, has been on death fast for 95 days.

Both prisoners demand an end to violations of their rights and a fair trial.

The health of the prisoners is deteriorating. The prisoners wrote in their petition to the Ministry of Justice that they want their demands to be met.

Sibel Balaç resigned from her position in 2018 because she suffered exile and mobbing while teaching children with mental disorders.

Balaç was arrested in December 2018 on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and sentenced to more than 8 years in prison, on the grounds that she supported the Yüksel Resistance, which started in Ankara after hundreds of thousands of public workers were dismissed by Statutory Decrees (KHK). While her sentence was approved by the Court, Balaç demands a “fair trial” in her pending file at the Court of Cassation.

Sibel Balaç went on hunger strike on 19 December 2021.

Gökhan Yıldırım was also given 46 years on charges such as “membership in a terrorist organization”, “intentional injury”, “damage to property”. Yıldırım has been held in Tekirdağ Prison No. 1 since 2016. All sentences under 5 years, which he received separately, were upheld by the Court of Appeal. Two files carrying sentences over 5 years are at the Supreme Court stage.

Yıldırım protested that a fair trial was not carried out and went on hunger strike on 21 December 2021. Yıldırım, whose demand for a fair trial was not accepted, turned his protest into a death fast on 25 December.