Feyzi Ergün, the brother of İbrahim Ergün, who was found dead in a refugee camp in Greece where he was detained, has stated his belief that, contrary to reports, his brother did not commit suicide. Speaking to the Mesopotamia Agency, Ergün said, ”Greece is responsible for his death.”
Twenty-four-year-old Kurdish refugee İbrahim Ergün, who had been kept in detention for 17 months at the Corinth Refugee Detention Center, 80 kilometres outside Athens, was found dead in a container toilet.
Upon the decision to extend the duration of his arrest, Ergün allegedly committed suicide and his body was taken to Athens for the autopsy.
Following the autopsy results, Ergün’s dead body is expected to be sent to his hometown in the Bulanik district of Muş in Turkey.
‘He fled due to oppression’
Feyzi Ergün said that his brother went to Greece in 2019 and he was detained when he was trying to go to Italy.
“He was running away from oppression, but in the end we have been handed his deceased body,” Feyzi Ergün said.
“His request for asylum was rejected due to the case opened against him in Greece,” Feyzi Ergün continued.,”But he was not a person to commit suicide because of all this. He has been escaping from oppression just like any other Kurd. He fled to Europe due to oppression. He was saying that the case against him was just a procedure and he was quite hopeful that he could arrive France in the end.”
‘Greece is responsible’
Greece was keeping İbrahim Ergün on detention with no legal justification, according to Feyzi Ergun.
Calling his brother’s death “unexpected and unacceptable”, Feyzi Ergün said, “This is not a normal death. We don’t believe in the allegations of suicide. From the moment he stepped foot on the Greek territories, Greece was supposed to protect his life just as Greece is responsible for the well-being of any person they keep detained. So, Greece is responsible for my brother’s death. We will continue our legal fight against Greece.”
Emphasising that his brother’s death is not an “acceptable and normal death”, Ergün claimed that he did not believe in suicide and that Greece was responsible for his death.
”The life of this person is the responsibility of the country. He believed that ‘European countries have human rights’, but they gave our family a funeral. The state is responsible for a detained person. We will open lawsuits against the Greek state which is responsible for my brother’s death.”
