Cemil Dilber, 57, who had a heart attack on the visit day in prison, passed away. He was hospitalized after he had a heart attack in Dinar Prison, Afyon. However, due to neglect, recklessness and malice, Dilber was sent back to prison and lost his life.
After having a heart attack while meeting his family on a prison visit day in Afyon Dinar Prison, Mr Dilber was hospitalised and had an angiography operation. Right after his operation, he was transferred to the intensive care unit in the hospital; however, despite all warnings from lawyers and human rights representatives, Mr Dilber was sent back from intensive care unit to prison, instead of the routine stay in the hospital ward, and died in prison at the age of 57. Cemil Dilber and Ayse Dilber couple, from Usak city, had a daughter named Azra Nur (12), born 17 years after their marriage. Mrs Dilber expressed her grief as follows: “We, mother and daughter, slept for a long time hugging Cemil’s jacket.”
Cemil Dilber was dragged hand-in-hand to death by doctors in prison, prosecutors and the regime’s other long hands. One year after the death of his grieving husband, Mrs Dilber elaborated what happened and had an interview with Sevinc Ozarslan, describing her experiences as follow:

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Mr Dilber was an agricultural engineer and died of a heart attack in Dinar Prison on March 22, 2019. Before he went to prison, he had four stents on his heart, and although he took six different drugs daily, her husband spent 2.5 years in prison, and his health got exacerbated every day. Mrs Dilber highlighted the struggle she encountered as: “Every time I went to visit him, I saliently realised how he was deteriorating.”.
HE COLLAPSED DURING THE VISIT
On March 11, 2019, during a visit by Mrs Dilber and their daughter, Mr Dilber said, “I have a pain in my back” and collapsed to the ground. His colour turned to black and blue all over because he was having a heart attack. Later, he was taken to Afyon State Hospital. They did angiography and were sent back to prison without staying in the hospital, even for a night.
After he collapsed, although he had heart attack symptoms, her husband rushed to his ward back, and the prison administrator didn’t transfer him to the hospital. Two guards came and said, “Your husband is unable to come back. His friends are taking care of him.”. Mr Dilber fell ill again that night. Mr Dilber’s mates in the ward pressed the emergency button a couple of times because Mr Dilber was dying. However, instead of notifying the prison doctor, the guards threatened the prisoners and said, “If you press the emergency button again, we will ban you from seeing your families.”. After his death, his friends were banned from shopping in the canteen just for pressing the emergency button to ask for help for a dying friend.
THEY POINTED A GUN AT THE HOSPITAL DOOR
The hospital administration realised the seriousness of Mr Dilber’s condition that evening, and this time he was taken to Afyon ParkHayat Hospital. When Mrs Dilber went to the intensive care unit in the hospital, she was shocked to see eight soldiers, a sergeant as well as a policeman, even though her husband was just an engineer, not a notorious gangster. While she approached the soldiers, they pointed their guns at the wife in tears and said that she could not enter. Mr Dilber, who did not have the strength to lift a hand, was treated as a terrorist by the long hands of the regime and handcuffed to the bed.
WE HAD BEEN TREATED LIKE A “VIRUS” FOR 4 YEARS
Mrs Dilber went to the prosecutor’s office to submit a petition to visit her husband, who was in the hospital and couldn’t open his eyes. However, the prosecutor could not permit by saying to his staff: “If any FETO member (FETO: `Fetullah terrorist organisation`) is coming to see me, just send them back!”.
“If my husband had been a rapist or murdered, they would have given permission… My husband served the Republic of Turkey for 30 years. Even the people we helped turned their backs to us. Everyone treated my husband and me as if we were a virus in society for four years. I couldn’t go out because of social pressure. How many years have I plied among only prison, lawyer’s office and market? Now everyone regrets what they have done, of course, but it’s too late.” cried the mourning wife.
HE COULD SEE HIS FAMILY ONLY 4 DAYS
Doctors said that the patient’s main artery to the heart was ruptured. He had to have surgery immediately. The military sergeant tried to take Mr Dilber away because there was no prison room in the hospital, but the doctor did not allow it. Living his last days, both sick and imprisoned, Mr Dilber was operated on the next day. Cemil Dilber, who was kept under observation for 11 days, was only allowed four days to see his family with a constant, although the prosecutor’s office created a series of obstacles. Mrs Dilber was able to talk to her husband for the last time the day before his death.
“I WAS IMPRISONED FOR NOTHING; I’M INNOCENT”
Mrs Dilber: “My husband wrote a petition to the prosecutor’s office every month, saying that `I was imprisoned for nothing, I’m innocent, I am not guilty of anything.` He waited weeks to go to the infirmary in prison. He became so weak in prison that 3 of his teeth fell out. He used to say that it’s complicated to be handcuffed on the roads, in the prison car. `They put us in prison, like they put an animal in a barn`, he used to say. He also said he was sick every time. My husband couldn’t even cut a chicken, and he was that merciful. How come he is a `terrorist! `. He wouldn’t turn his back to anyone who knocked on our door. Certificates of achievement are full of boxes on the first floor of my house. This is tyranny, and they persecuted my husband. Everything in my life is half-finished now.” she says.
Mrs Dilber’s pain buried her sorrow in her chest for a year. The torment that was dragged her partner of 30 years to death in prison is still very fresh. We spoke to her a number of times this year. Each time it was as if she had lost her husband that day. When I called again for the anniversary of his death, she took the 8-minute video that you can watch below and sent it to me, and she again told me about her experiences with tears…