Erol Zavar

Erol Zavar (born in 1964 in Zonguldak - Turkey), is married with two children.On 27 June 2001 Erol Zavar was sentenced Ankara State Security Court No 2 of "attempting, as a member of the illegal organization resistance movement, and in accordance with the aims thereof, to overthrow the existing constitutional order by force,” and sentenced to death in accordance with article 146/1 of the Turkish Criminal Code. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Erol Zavar, who’s first book of poetry is about to be published, is the owner and editor of Odak (Focus) Magazine which has been published since 1990 under the logo “A different world is possible.”

In 1999 Erol Zavar was diagnosed with 'Bladder Cancer' at Ankara’s Etlik SSK Hospital, where he underwent TUR-T surgery (trans-urethral resection of a bladder tumor) and was told that he should avoid stressful situations, and undergo a regular quarterly cystoscopic checkup. Erol Zavar informed officials of these facts during the three days of intense torture he underwent following his initial police detention in January 2001, and during the following years of custody. Neither he, nor his lawyer and family who support him, received appropriate official response to their appeals.

Quite apart from the cancer, Erol Zavar’s health is generally poor, yet he was transferred into an F-type Prison where inmates are held under a regime of small-group or solitary isolation. He was denied any cystoscopic checkup for the next three years, on the pretext that there was no cystoscope available, or that the procedure was not necessary in his case. The delays and superficial physical examinations seemed almost deliberately intended to permit the disease to develop to an irreversible stage. With persistent migraine and asthma episodes, and abdominal and gall bladder problems, Erol Zavar’s entire body seemed to be giving a cry for help from the isolation of the F-type prison.

Finally, in February 2004, as a result of the efforts of his wife, friends and lawyers, Erol Zavar was referred to a university hospital where the cystoscopy investigation could be carried out. He was admitted as an in-patient at Trakya University Medical Faculty from 9 – 25 February 2004 (Document 2) where multiple malignant tumors were identified, and on 17 February an operation carried out. The diagnosis based on biopsy samples was “Transitional Cell Carcinoma showing submucosal invasion, WHO Grade II, bladder, TUR-T”.

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Details and news can be found here: [http://www.erolzavar.com Freedom for Erol Zavar]