‘Why am I on a death fast? Because I selfishly think of myself!’

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"When people hear about my death fast, they tell me several things like, 'Think of yourself. What kind of a resistance is this? Nothing is worth dying, let's wait and see. The AKP will enjoy it! It will be happy about it'."

Özgür Karakaya, a prisoner in İzmir No. 1 Type T Closed Prison, has been on a death fast since February 19. Like death fasting arrested lawyers Aytaç Ünsal and Ebru Timtik, he demands his right to a fair trial.

In his letter to bianet, Karakaya says that he would like to respond to the criticisms about his fast, noting that "he has been on a death fast out of selfishness and he does it because he is thinking of himself."

Referring to what he has been going through both in prison and at court, Karakaya briefly states that following:

'Disability in my foot is a memory from torture'

"In 2006, lawyer Behiç Aşçı said, 'I am going on a death fast for the rights of my clients in a country where there is no law or justice.' I witnessed both these remarks of him and his gradually thinning body.

"His condition was deteriorating with each passing day. We went to Ankara, we were going to talk about isolation. 'You talk about death fasts and isolation, will you,' they said and raided the place where we were.

"Then, we were arrested. The arrest was not found enough, they subjected us to foot whipping in the prison where we were taken. That is why I am now disabled in the foot, it is a memory from torture.

"After that, they filed a suit, asking 'Why did you resist?' While I was the one who was tortured, they gave me a sentence.

"As you see, I am thinking of myself! What kind of a justice mechanism was I faced with, right? It was neither the first, nor the last...

'We don't want an apology, but justice'

"After Ferhat Gerçek, the distributor of Yolculuk Magazine, was shot, I went from shanty town to shanty town so that the criminals would be brought to justice. We went there with Engin Çeber.

"We knocked on the doors of poor households and said, 'We want justice.' In September 2008, were walking in the poor streets of Sarıyer/Derbent. We were taken into custody due to 'illegal demonstration.'

"As a result of torture that we were subjected to at the police station, hospital, courthouse and, lastly, in prison, Engin was massacred. Afterwards, Mehmet Ali Şahin, the then Justice Minister, apologized. 'We don't want an apology, we want justice,' we said.

"Thanks to the efforts of lawyers from the People's Law Bureau (HHB) and Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD), those who tortured were given heavy sentences such as an aggravated life imprisonment.

"Even though they were penalized for being torturers, these same persons filed a complaint against me. I was penalized as well, as if they were asking me 'Why didn't you die, how come do you want justice?'

"Here, as you see, I am thinking of myself! Am I not faced with an unfair judicial system?

'I did it because I thought of myself'

"I will keep giving examples by thinking of myself:

"9 years in prison for 'aiding an organization as a non-member' because I visited Berkin Elvan, who was in coma, at hospital...

"I was arrested for 'organization membership' because I resisted the Soma massacre and attended the statement for the press. I am facing 15 years.

"A case for 'organization membership' because I said that the murderers of Hasan Ferit Gedik should be penalized.

"And several others like these... I am faced with a mentality that considers it a 'terrorist activity' if you chanted a slogan, resisted torture, made a statement for the press or were present at a funeral.

"These lawsuits were apparently not enough, because they have also given 7.5 years in prison based on the statements of two informants.

"So, all in all, everything that I wage a struggle for justice is regarded as terrorism. They are trying to take revenge on me for having witnessed in the case of Engin Çeber and having refused to bow down. They want me to spend my decades behind bars to deter others through me.

"So, here we are, the ones who tell me to 'think of myself'... I have already thought of myself. I am thinking of myself and talking about myself with 'selfish' feelings. I decided to go on a death fast by thinking of myself." (AS/SD)