She had been on hunger strike for 238 days because she wanted a fair trial, after a 13-year prison sentence for "terrorism", and she weighed 30 kg. The appeals of colleagues from all over the world were useless: Ebru Timtik, a 42-year-old Turkish lawyer and human rights activist, died of starvation in a hospital in Istanbul where she had been transferred from prison, too late. His law firm gave the news of his death with a tweet: "Ebru Timtik, a partner in our firm, died as a martyr."
Ebru's death caused indignation and anger: when her coffin left the Istanbul Forensic Council after the autopsy, without his family being able to accompany him, scuffles broke out between the police and the crowd who wanted to pay homage to her. However, a ceremony was held in front of the city forum, followed by a prayer in an Islamic place of worship, while hundreds of people chanted "Ebru Timtik is immortal".
The woman had started fasting last February, taking only sugar water, herbal tea and vitamins, to ask for a fair trial. Together with his colleague Aytac Unsal, also convicted and on hunger strike, Timtik was part of the Contemporary Association of Lawyers, specializing in the defense of politically sensitive cases and accused by the Turkish authorities of being linked to the radical Marxist-Leninist organization Dhkp-C , responsible for several attacks and defined as "terrorist" by Ankara and its Western allies. In particular, Timtik had defended the family of Berkin Elvan, a teenager who died in 2014 from injuries sustained during the crackdown on the Gezi Park protests in 2013.
Just a month ago, a court in Istanbul refused to release the woman, despite a medical report indicating that her state of health no longer allowed her to remain in prison. A similar request was also filed with the Constitutional Court in August, without success. Instead of being released from prison, Timtik and colleague Unsal had been transferred to two different hospitals in July.
"Ebru Timtik was made to die before our eyes," tweeted Sezgin Tanrikulu, a deputy from the CHP, the main opposition force to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"We have lost it due to a blind conscience of justice and politics," he added. For the European Commission, moreover, the "tragic" fate of Timtik "painfully illustrates the urgent need for the Turkish authorities to deal credibly with the human rights situation in the country".