İSTANBUL - Community and Legal Research Foundation Chair Didar Erdem stated that the Bill of Criminal Enforcement, which is a violation of the principle of equality, to be discussed at the parliament today is no different than death penalty.

 

While the doors of the prisons are opening in many countries due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Bill of Criminal Enforcement prepared by AKP and MHP that excludes political prisoners will be discussed at the General Assembly today. Opposition parties, democratic law organizations and a large part of the society are against the enactment of the law proposal as iti is against the principle of equality.

 

The President of the Community and Legal Studies Foundation (TOHAV), Didar Erdem, evaluated the Law on the Execution of Criminal and Security Measures and the Law Proposal for Amending Some Laws.

 

VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE

 

Stating that the regulation should be taken as the second pillar of the countermeasures against the virus, Didar Erdem said: "Some crime and crime groups are excluded from the regulation. This means that these people's right to life is violated."

 

Pointing out that the “right to life” is defined as an untouchable right in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Erdem said: "If the evacuation of prisoners does not take place and the necessary measures are not taken, it is possible that the virus will spread in a very short time and deaths may occur due to chronic diseases. All prisoners who are excluded from this discriminatory law proposal must be included otherwise this law is incompatible with the rule of law."

 

Erdem also reminded that there are a large number of sick prisoners in prisons, and that they should be released immediately.

 

INCLUSIVE ARRANGEMENTS ARE ESSENTIAL

 

Noting that the right to life is the most basic right that every person has, TOHAV President Erdem underlined that inclusive arrengements should be introduced that guarantee everyone's right to life with an egalitarian regulation in the face of a deadly virus.

 

Erdem who underlined that the law proposal as 'no different than death sentence' as it is now, said: "As the punishment on human body primitive and against human rights, ignoring a group of people in the face of a deadly virus and leave them to their fate is also against the law." 

 

WE CAN FACE MASS DEATHS

 

Erdem also warned that if this virus, which has no definitive treatment, spreads to prisons, mass deaths may occur. Erdem said, “There are prisons that have a very high occupancy rate and we all know the pyhsical conditions in prisons. Hygiene and nutrition is very limited in prisons. Even one people getting infected in a prison may lead to mass deaths."

 

 

 

MA / Erdoğan Alayumat