HPG member Özer is in hospital

After the Interior Ministry claimed that HPG member Abdulsuttar Özer had died in a military operation, it has been revealed that he was admitted to hospital and is now receiving treatment.

The military operation launched on 14 March by the Turkish army continues in the Dibek (Dêrxus), Arıklı (Huseynik) and Karahasan neighbourhoods of the Lice district of Diyarbakır (Amed). Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu made statements on social media that two People’s Defence Forces (HPG) members had died. However, it was revealed via an image shared on social media that Abdulsıttar Özer, one of the two HPG members, was alive. He was captured and handcuffed by soldiers, the image shows.

Application to prosecutor’s office

Özer’s family applied to Diyarbakır Provincial Gendarmerie Command to discover his fate. They could not find any information and so the family applied to the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor’s Office for a DNA test over the claim that Özer had lost his life, according to a Mesopotamia Agency report.

Prosecutor shared information

After the DNA test was completed, the lawyers of the Özer family met with the prosecutor. The authorised prosecutor informed them that Özer was alive but was captured while injured and was being treated at the hospital.

Meeting request

The lawyers’ and the family’s request to meet with Özer was denied by the prosecutor on security grounds. The lawyers applied to the Criminal Court of Peace on Duty to request a meeting with Özer.

Family: no information shared

Explaining that he had not received information relating to his brother’s health condition or in which hospital he was being treated, İbrahim Özer said the family was waiting for the result of the application to the court.

He will be taken to Lice

It was stated that HPG member Özer, who is being treated somewhere in Diyarbakır, will be taken to the Lice Gendarmerie Command after the treatment.