Supreme Court member Mustafa Erdoğan died in the intensive care unit of a hospital on Tuesday morning days after being released from prison, Samanyolu haber reported.
The medical reports showing the seriousness of his situation were ignored and the appeals for his release were rejected. His daughter, Buket Erdoğan, had earlier said: “My father is fighting for his life in a cell. He is getting infections in the prison.”
Erdoğan was taken off life support after he lost consciousness.
The reason for Erdoğan’s arrest is not known since no indictment was written.
Erdoğan is only one of thousands of judges and prosecutors who were imprisoned without any evidence following a botched coup attempt last summer.
The Turkish government has arrested a total of 2,431 judges and prosecutors and dismissed 4,424 others since a botched coup attempt on July 15, 2016, a recent Constitutional Court general assembly ruling revealed.
In December, the European Networks of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ) suspended the observer status of Turkey’s Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) and excluded it from participation in ENCJ activities for the mass suspension and dismissal of judges and prosecutors and the failure to comply with the European Standards for Councils for the Judiciary.
On June 8, Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, expressed concern about the new composition of HSYK based on amendments which was approved in April 16 referendum, saying it does not offer adequate safeguards for the independence of the judiciary.