Kurdish political prisoner Garibe Gezer was subjected to systematic sexual, physical and psychological torture by the guards at Kandıra Prison and she eventually died under suspicious circumstances on December 9th.
It has been dramatically revealed by an eye witness inside the prison that Garibe, who had been subjected to continuous solitary confinement was still alive when prison guards arrived in her cell, ETHA reports.
She was alive
A fellow political prisoner, Deniz Tepeli explained in a phone call that had she directly witnessed the things that happened on the day Garibe died. Tepeli stated that they called out to Garibe when she did not come to the prison yard for fresh air.
When they heard in Garibe’s reply that she was not good, they called out for the guards.
“Garibe was alive when they came into her cell, because I heard the guards talking. They said, ‘She has a pulse, her body is warm,'” detainee Tepeli explained.
They did not deliver my messages to the lawyer
Tepeli later detailed all of these details in a letter to Garibe’s lawyer, Jiyan Tosun and requested it to also be faxed.
“But they did not deliver my messages, they are trying to cover up the facts about her death” she stated.
“There are also many ordinary prisoners here, lots of suicide attempts take place and they injure each other. The guards always intervene immediately, they do not need to consult any officials. But this time they waited. Garibe was alive and they waited for her to die.” she added.
Garibe could be alive now
Tepeli said that if the guards had of acted immediately, Garibe Gezer would still be alive today.
Deniz Tepeli also confirmed about the allegations of human rights violations taking place in the prison and the continuous torture that Garibe that was subjected to in prison.
“Even though we are serving life sentences, we are not in as bad conditions as she is was. She was kept in solitary confinement since she was brought here. This friend has attempted suicide before, and despite the fact that she should not have been alone, they actually increased the pressure on her.”
“They were trying to discredit Garibe and prevent our solidarity. A guard came to me and said things like, ‘She is not like you’, another guard said things like, ‘She cursed at me in Kurdish’, things like this, all the time.” She said.
Political prisoner Deniz Tepeli’s statements reveals how Garibe Gezer was constantly subjected to psychological torture in Kandıra Prison.
“Every time Garibe was going to make a phone call, she couldn’t. They were always creating tension and provoking her. For example, we can normally share our stuff among prisoners. Let’s say someone is quarantined or sentenced to solitary confinement, another prisoner can send her a TV or something. But they wouldn’t let us send anything to Garibe.”
They tried to prevent me from testifying
Tepeli then explained what happened when she went to testify as a first-hand direct eye witness to the events surrounding the death of Garibe Gezer.
“I went to testify, but they did not listen, they tried to avoid it. The prosecutor was then twisting my words. I testified with the audio visual information system (SEGBIS) however, they wrote down that I didn’t want to testify! I forced them to change that statement. I’ve filed a criminal complaint against all of them. I didn’t see what they wrote because I gave my statement with SEGBİS, and I couldn’t sign it. It’s illegal!”
They actually wanted Garibe’s death
Tepeli said that she sent letters and faxes to her lawyer Jiyan Tosun to explain what happened to her in order for Garibe Gezer’s death not to be covered up.
“None of them were delivered to the lawyer! They wanted Garibe’s death. Now she is dead and they want to hide their responsibility. All of the torture inflicted against her was actually saying to Garibe ” Die” They killed our friend Garibe. We are not going to let them get away with it, we are going to fight. We are very sorry, but we are also very angry. That’s why we are going to fight!”
