Court rejects release request for terror suspect teacher on hunger strike
The prosecutor in the trial of former teacher and terror suspect Nuriye Gu00fclmen (L) has demanded her conditional release. (Sabah File Photo)


A Turkish court rejected prosecutor's request to release Nuriye Gülmen, a former teacher who launched a hunger strike after being expelled from the profession due to suspected terror ties, on the basis of her failing health.

The 19th Heavy Penal Court in Ankara ruled that her detention be continued.

Gülmen, 35, and Semih Özakça, 28, were arrested on terror charges in late May, on the 75th day of their hunger strike in Ankara to protest their suspension.

They have been on hunger strike for the last six months since they were suspended from their civil servant jobs for suspected terror links.

Both were tried on charges of "membership in a military terrorist organization," "propaganda of a terrorist organization" and "opposition to the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations."

Last week, an Ankara court ordered Özakça's release, placing him under judiciary control, with Gülmen's hearing to continue last Friday.

The prosecutor seeks up to 15 years of jail sentence for Gülmen for "being a member of an armed terrorist organization," and demands Özakça be sentenced for "willfully aiding an armed terrorist organization." Both defendants are accused of being members of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) terrorist group.

Gülmen's most recent trial took place at Ankara's 19th Heavy Penal Court at Sincan Prison and Execution Campus, where she is imprisoned.

Given permission to speak, Gülmen said: "I repeat the request for my release. I have already voiced this appeal in the past session and have long explained the reasons for this. So I will not say the same reasons again. I have explained how much negative impact my imprisonment has on my health."

In August, European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg rejected a request to order their release, finding that their detainment "did not pose a real and imminent risk of irreparable harm to the life or limb of the applicants."