Lawyer Ebru Timtik dies on day 238 of death fast

On August 14, the Constitutional Court of Turkey rejected a request for the release of hunger-striking lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal as a precautionary measure. Ignoring the fact that the two lawyers have already passed the critical critical threshold value, the Court claimed that “there is no information or finding available regarding the emergence of a critical danger for their lives or their moral and material integrity with the rejection of the request for their release.”

The People’s Legal Bureau (Halkın Hukuk Bürosu, HKK) announced on Twitter on Thursday that Timtik is receiving medical response after her heart stopped; “Her pulse has stopped, and we have learned that she is undergoing cardiac massage. We call upon all our colleagues and our people to gather in front of Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Hospital.”

In an updated announcement, the HKK stated that Timtik has lost her life.

The body of detained lawyer Ebru Timtik was brought last night to the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) in Istanbul Yenibosna for autopsy.

Timtik’s relatives, colleagues and many people were waiting in front of the ATK surrounded by police.

The Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD), of which Timtik was a member, said she will be buried next to her mother’s grave in the Gazi Cemetery on Saturday, August 29, following a ceremony to be held at the Gazi Cemevi.

The remains of Timtik are expected to be given to the family earlier today.

Hunger strike for justice

Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal have been on hunger strike for months and are not released from prison despite being declared unfit for imprisonment by the Forensic Medicine Institute. A complaint to the Turkish Constitutional Court in Ankara was also unsuccessful. The two lawyers, who are currently under observation against their will in various hospitals in Istanbul, remain in custody.

Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal are lawyers of the left-wing association “People’s Legal Office” (Halkın Hukuk Bürosu) and went on hunger strike together with other imprisoned colleagues in February, which they turned into a “death fast” on April 5th – the “Day of Lawyers”. In the complex of proceedings against alleged members of the DHKP-C, the lawyers were sentenced to long prison sentences according to terrorist laws due to contradictory statements of a key witness. With their action they demand a fair trial.

Timtik is the fourth person from the DHKP-C trial who died this year as a result of a death fast. Helin Bölek, soloist of the music band Grup Yorum, died on April 3. She had refused to eat for 288 days in protest against the imprisonment of other band members and a ban on concerts by Grup Yorum. On May 7, Grup Yorum bassist Ibrahim Gökçek died after a 323-day hunger strike. Prior to this, political prisoner Mustafa Koçak had died on April 24 as a result of a 296-day food deprivation.

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