Turkish lawyer on hunger strike sent back to prison after release
A Turkish lawyer who was released from prison on medical grounds after spending more than seven months on hunger strike has been re-arrested in northwestern Turkey.
Aytac Unsal, a lawyer affiliated with the Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD) and the People's Law Bureau (HHB), was detained in the province of Edirne on Thursday.
The HHB said in a statement on Friday that he had been formally arrested and sent directly to Edirne Type F Prison.
Unsal had been sentenced in March 2019, accused of having links to the outlawed left-wing armed group the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C).
He was released in September this year on health grounds, following 213 days on hunger strike. However, he was told he was expected to serve out the rest of his sentence whenever his treatment ended.
According to a statement from the interior ministry, Unsal was detained in Edirne, which borders Bulgaria, because they feared he would "would go abroad in illegal ways so that he would not enter prison after his prison sentence had become final".
Speaking to Middle East Eye in September, shortly after his release, Unsal said he had lost 30kg during his hunger strike and could only walk with great difficulty due to pain and muscle wastage.
The HHB said on Friday that Unsal was not fit to return to jail and that doing so was "putting his life at risk".
"A verdict of suspension of the execution was given for Aytac Unsal as he was not in good health," said the group.
"However, the reason for suspending the execution did not disappear. Unsal is still in the treatment process."
They added that they believed his re-arrest was "against the law", as the order had come from the interior ministry, rather than the courts.
'Travesty of justice'
Unsal was originally arrested along with 13 others associated with the CHD and HHB, including his wife, Didem Baydar Unsal, who is also a lawyer, and colleague Ebru Timtik. They were later convicted over their alleged links to the DHKP-C.
The DHKP-C is an illegal armed Marxist-Leninist group in Turkey who have been responsible for suicide bombings, attacks on US interests and the kidnapping of a prosecutor.
'They could have released Ebru Timtik in the same way. She could be with me now'
- Aytac Unsal
The convictions were widely condemned by human rights organisations, with Amnesty International deriding the trial as a "travesty of justice", pointing out the reliance on secret witnesses and the defence being prevented from seeing the defendants' digital data used in the indictment.
Timtek, who also went on hunger strike, died on 27 August, 238 days into her protest.
Unsal told MEE in September that he was pleased to have been released from prison, but that he was heartbroken over his friend's death.
"I was very happy when I was released from prison, because it was the achievement of our months of struggle… the will of the power that attacked to destroy us with unlimited pressure and terror was broken," he said.
"On the other hand, I was extremely angry. Because they could have released Ebru Timtik in the same way. She could be with me now. I was very angry about this. But when I was released, I went out with sister Ebru - I now carried her heart and her mind."
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