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Erdogan Visit Highlights Poor Health Care in Turkish Prisons

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to a hospital to see an army officer implicated in a coup attempt has drawn attention to the poor health care in Turkish prisons, writes Sibel Utku Bila.
Former deputy Chief of the General Staff General Ergin Saygun (L) is escorted by police officers at a courthouse in Istanbul February 25, 2010. Turkey's political and military leaders meet on Thursday as a storm gathers over a coup plot investigation against the armed forces which is threatening stability and investor confidence in the EU-candidate country. The most senior detainees, retired Air Force Commander Ibrahim Firtina and ex-navy chief Ozden Ornek, are brought to the court for questioning on Thursd

When the Turkish judiciary finally released Ergin Saygun on health grounds this month, he was already on the operating table with a life-threatening heart infection. Several months earlier, the retired general had shouted at the judge, “You won’t manage to kill me!” as the court rejected repeated requests for his conditional release, ignoring medical reports that diagnosed him with 15 serious conditions and warned against the risk of a lethal cardiac infection.

The dramatic case of the former deputy chief of the Turkish general staff, convicted in a plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government, has raised questions about whether denial of proper health care has become a form of additional punishment — and even political revenge — in Turkey’s notorious judicial system.

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