ISTANBUL - Turkey said on Wednesday he would empty his dozens of prisons of thousands of criminals to make room for the wave of journalists, teachers, lawyers and judges rounded related failure of the coup last month.
the surprising decision to so many criminals convicted of non-violent offenses back in the streets is a measure strains on the state as president Recep Tayyip Erdogan expanding a broad purge of those suspected enemies of the government. Efforts have created gaping holes in government institutions, judiciary, schools, news media and countless other professions.
Acting under the powers conferred by the emergency and allow the state status to bypass Parliament to pass new laws, Turkey said in a decree published Wednesday it would begin release up to 38,000 prisoners, about one in five people behind bars. Most will be released at the end of the week.
The government blamed the attempted coup, which took place the night of July 15 as a rebel faction of the army sought to overthrow the government, Fethullah Gulen on a Muslim cleric who lives in voluntary exile in rural Pennsylvania and whose followers have long held positions in state institutions, including the military. But the state has far exceeded the arrest that army officers suspected of planning the attempted coup.
Prisons filled to capacity in the weeks after the attempted coup, and many detainees were sleeping in public areas of prisons, often without any bedding, said Turkdogan Ozturk, President of Association of human rights in Turkey. Authorities also used sports arenas to house the flood of prisoners.
"This is a serious abuse cases, and prisoners suffer from serious health problems as a result," Mr Turkdogan said.
More than 40,000 people were detained or arrested on charges related to the coup, officials say. Tens of thousands of others, including teachers, police officers, state officials and even airline employees have lost their jobs. In some cases, the state has seized property without due process, activists say.
"There are many arbitrary practices," said Andrew Gardner, researcher on Turkey for Amnesty International.
According to the press prisoner plan convicted criminals who have served in least half of their sentence will be supervised on parole. the government has said that those guilty of murder, rape or other violent crimes were not eligible for release.
"the conditions were already bad before attempted coup because they were at capacity, "said Sezgin Tanrikulu, a legislator with the main secular opposition group, the Republican people's Party. Now, he says. "We have heard reports of two to three people sharing beds and have to sleep in corridors"
M .. Tanrikulu said his party supported the program prisoner release as a necessary measure to reduce overcrowding, but added that it should have been done in consultation with Parliament. "it is not appropriate to use the state of emergency to overthrow the rule of law in Turkey, "he said.
the activists of human rights have raised concerns that the government makes no distinction between those who have committed criminal acts to support the coup and people who may have donated money to charities linked to Mr. Gülen, held on accounts in banks affiliated with him or attended schools associated with the Church.
in the Meanwhile, the Erdogan government has accelerated an already widespread crackdown on freedom of expression, closing more than 100 news items suspected of containing links to Mr. Gülen and arresting dozens of journalists.
Since the failed blow, Turkey has once again become leading jailer of journalists in the world, a position held country a few years ago , according to Reporters without borders, an international defense group.
"It is very unfortunate," said Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a lawyer columnist and human rights who was detained shortly after the attempted coup, with reference to prisoner releases. He said that the government would release "thieves, all criminals, to fill prisons with intellectuals, writers, activists of human rights, and others, as well as people of the coup. "
The scale purges concern raised in the West that Turkey is Backsliding on Human Rights, having shown an improvement on that front he was seeking membership in the European Union.
Amnesty International recently released a report accusing the Turkish security forces beat and torture suspects imprisoned coup. Moreover, photos of prisoners, many of them bruised or with black eyes, circulated on social media. Turkish officials have denied all allegations of torture or other abuse.
At the same time, Turkey has reduced the rights of prisoners, raising fears that the purges are conducted beyond the rule of law, and the accused will be unable to defend themselves so adequate.
A decree under the state of emergency restricts visits by lawyers and family members. The state now has the right to record conversations between prisoners and their lawyers, and in some cases, government officials are present for these discussions.
"This leads to censorship because people are afraid of repercussions, especially in cases of torture and reports of abuse," said Mr. Turkdogan, the Association of rights man. "They can not share confidential information about their cases. Under these conditions, how can we defend? Even those who are guilty have the right to defend itself. "
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