27 Union of Turkish Bar Associations Review 2022 Süleyman ÖZAR provides information on the physical and mental damages that may result from his/her act. The psychosocial service unit at the penitentiary institution also takes necessary steps so as to persuade the prisoner to discontinue his/her act. As regards the force-feeding process at the penitentiary institution, the existence of a life-threatening situation is not required as a condition, but the continuation of the act in spite of all persuasive efforts is deemed sufficient. In this case, the Law entails the feeding of the concerned prisoner in an appropriate environment according to the regime designated by the physician of the penitentiary institution. Although the notion “forced” is not used in the statutory regulation, it is not possible to define the feeding process, which is against the will of the prisoner, with another adjective. This statutory regulation, which concerns the person himself, his dignity and self-respect, should not be taken into consideration separately but in conjunction with the framework set by the jurisprudence of the ECHR. The standards set by the ECHR in the cases such as Nevmerzhitsky v. Ukraine (2005) and Ciorap v. Moldova (2007) where it found a violation are as follows:88 Force-feeding must: • Be medically necessary; • Be intended for saving the life of the person concerned; • Involve safeguards such as right to challenge, judicial review, the adoption of the force-feeding process on the basis of a written report, and the conduct of the process by a competent physician; • Be conducted, through the most lenient method of intervention, in a way that would not infringe human dignity and self-respect; • Not turn into a means of pressure and punishment so as to put an end to the strike. As is seen, the ECHR does not find the lack of consent problematic in the provision of food ad fluids provided that the intervention with the strike must not degrade human dignity. Human dignity is a basic 88 Levy, p. 30.
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