Yesterday(December 4th), a court acquitted all defendants, in total 267 soldiers, who took part in the Ümraniye prison massacre. Ümraniye was one of the 20 jails, which was targeted by the Turkish state in its greatest prison massacre ever happened. From 19th-22nd December 2000, 20 prisons in Turkey were attacked at the same time by military forces, ten thousands of gas bombs were used against the detainees, 28 political prisoners were brutally murdered by the state. 6 women in Bayrampaşa prison were burnt alive in their cell before the eyes of their comrades….
One of the maybe most brutal thing was, that even the murdered and attacked prisoners were charged for resisting and the massacre was filmed by soldiers with laughter.
There were hundreds of hungerstriking prisoners at the moment of the attack, whom their friends wanted to protect from chemical gas and bullets.
This hungerstrike, which was transformed to a death fast lasted 7 years, 122 people gave their lives. The protest which should be oppressed by the state was against forcible transfer to new built F-Type isolation cells. The prisoners should be separated from each other in several isolation camps throughout the country, staying there for years in cells with maximum 3 persons and all kinds of restrictions…
The trial which was launched by families of murdered prisoners and their lawyers (also mainly imprisoned by AKP government) against the killers of the state, ended with aqittal due to lack of evidence!
Governments in Europe and others still defend this state as a democratic and a state of law? Are you going to support such cruels and cooperate for your interests? Will you continue to blame those who struggle for their rights against this cruelty and call those terrorists who are fighting terrorism and state violence?
We never forget the 28 prisoners and the big pain of their families and comrades, who hardly identified their dead bodies or what had been left from them.
Down with fascism!
Source: International Platform against Isolation
