Devrimci Halk Kurtuluş Cephesi
Date: July 23, 2004 | Statement: 338
The 116th death case in the F type prison cells: Salih Sevinel
Isolation torture continues in terms of an open murder. Salih Sevinel a prisoner at Tekirdag F type prison fell ill in his prison cell on 21st July and died in the hospital.
Why and how did Salih die?
The official cause of death is “heart attack”. Will everybody content with this statement? Will nobody ask, why and how the heart of Salih, which was absolutely healthy before his arrest two years ago, could suddenly flop? Salih was fit as a fiddle, when he was put in the F type ‘death cells’ two years ago. It is much more a political question than a medical, why the heart of Salih didn’t survive the isolation and torture conditions.
What kind of politics undo healthy brains, hearts and kidneys?
What kind of politics can drive clever people to shizophrenia, happy people to suicide?
The death of Salih Sevinel can’t be answered without giving a response to these questions.
Salih Sevinel didn’t die through heart failure, he is a victim of the isolation imprisonment. Isolation aims to destroy the prisoner physically and psychologically. It means to be separated from the people and society. If doesn’t only prohibit thoughts, but also feelings, sharing and solidarity. The peoples who live in this country (Turkey), the intellectuals, journalists and democrats should finally recognize following: The recent problems in the prisons are much more than the question of “dormitories” or “single cells”. Today, isolation should be the only question to be discussed. Because it is a “contemporary” synthesis between the inquisition politics of the Middle Ages and the practises of the German Nazis and US-imperialism.
It is an attack on humanity, a torture method which is applied over years, 24 hours a day. The suicides, that follow one after the other, like the case of Volkan Agirman – not to mention the social prisoners whose names aren’t even known to us – or Ali Sahin, who died from “cancer”… All these are the fruits of this politics.
ISOLATION TORTURE KILLS!
Those who are against torture and treat it as a crime against humanity, should also oppose isolation, which means concentrated and permanent torture. 116 people died! It is not honourable to remain silent on isolation torture, which has already reached a dimension of mass murder.
Salih Sevinel had a heart attack in his cell on July 21. His cellmate drummed against the door, shouted for the warders. After a while they arrived dilatory. And they let somebody who had just suffered from a heart attack go until the ward…
They kept him waiting there for a long time. Afterwards he was brought to the Tekirdag State Hospital. He died a few hours later. This is isolation politics. Those, who have to carry out this method, are taught to treat those opposite them not as human beings. They are just entities, whose thoughts have to be destroyed.
And if someone doesn’t give up her or his thoughts, he or she will be physically destroyed. The whole course of events in the prisons, the fulfillment of needs as food or clothes, aim at this. Up to date 116 people died as a result of this politics. We talk about a murder. When Tayyip Erdogan was proded to the deaths in the F type prisons, he lied insolent saying, that “this had happened before their term of office and there were no such events during their time”. And here is another case of death, that will hit the liar prime minister like a slap in the face. How long will the AKP deny the deaths and its responsibility for it?
Is it possible to eradicate the people?
It is not! There will always be people like Salih! Salih was a 38-year old supporter of our movement, who was born in the village Kervansaray Köyü, in a suburb of Tokat/Zile (town in the Black Sea Region). He was married and father of three children. Salih was a farmer. He had contacts to our organisation for many years. In support of the people’s liberation struggle he gave a lot of sacrifices and took on many risks.
He took over some tasks in the logistic scope. The contact was broken for a while, but was re-established later. When our comrade asked him what he could do, his answer was very short and clear: “I can’t decide it. I will be there, where the party needs somebody…” Salih has stored all materials of the party for years with great diligence.
In 1995 he was arrested in Tokat during a “Anatolian raid”, in a period he was active. He remained in the Ulucanlar prison in Ankara for a while. After his release there was a decision in his trial and he was sentenced with 12,5 years of prison.
He had to disappear for a time. Two years ago he was arrested again and put in the F type prison of Tekirdag. He also showed his ties with the party and the people under isolation conditions. He became one of our martyrs, who were killed by the isolation politics of the oligarchy. He’s a part of the people. Neither murder nor isolation cells could intimidate him. There will be appear new people like Salih, who are going to acquire the struggle of the people and demand reckoning. The AKP government has to give an account of all killed comrades!
