İSTANBUL - Criminal lawyer Ercan Kanar stated that the 'aggravated life sentence' that was brought into the agenda when the ECtHR decision about Öcalan was brought before the European Council must end, and said: "Turkey violates the Mandela rules.'

 

Asrın Law Office consisting of the attorneys of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan applied to European Court of Human Rights in 2003 on grounds that the isolation imposed on Öcalan in İmralı Type F Closed Prison violates the European Convention on Human Rights. ECtHR made a decision called 'Öcalan 2' on March 18, 2014 and ruled that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole şs a violation of Article 3 of the ECtHR.

 

The ECtHR rendered the same decision for the imprisoned Hayati Kaytan, Emin Gurban and Civan Boltan, who later applied. Despite the fact that 7 years have passed since the Öcalan decision, which was a predecessor for the applicants, no legal regulation was made that would give rise to the "right of hope" regarding aggravated life imprisonment without the possibility of release.

 

Despite the past 7 years, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe did not take into account whether the ECHR decision was implemented or not. Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), Human Rights Association (İHD), Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) and Society and Legal Studies Foundation (TOHAV) applied to the European Council to take the violation decision about Öcalan on the urgent agenda.

 

BAR ASSOCIATIONS MUST APPLY

 

Underlining that an important and appropriate application was made despite being late, experienced criminal lawyer Ercan Kanar said that more institutions should participate in the application. Stating that the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) and local bar associations should participate in the application, Kanar said, "However, bar association administrations such as the Union of Bar Associations, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir Bar Associations have not spoken out against such a discriminatory and racist execution regime so far."

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

Reminding the reccomendations of the European Council regarding the relevant governments years ago, Kanar said: ""In this recommendation, it is recommended to review the sentence periods between 8 and 14 years. In other words, there is a requirement to reconsider between 8 and 14 years in life imprisonment sentences. Therefore, when we look at it, this recommendation is more advanced than the decisions of the ECtHR. There is a 25-year recommendation in the ECHR decision."

 

SIMILAR ECtHR DECISIONS

 

Reminding the previous judgments of the ECtHR on Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom, Kanar stated that the detainee's right to hope for freedom was implemented very clearly in this decision as well. Kanar said, “In the decision, it was underlined that the possibility of reviewing the sentence periods in certain periods should be included in the execution laws of the national states. Again, these issues were emphasized in the Kafkaris/Cyprus decision.”

 

LIFE HAS BECOME A PUNISHMENT

 

Emphasizing that every person has to have the right to be free one day, Kanar continued, "“Therefore, regardless of the act of the crime alleged to have been committed and the nature of the punishment given, the main purpose of the execution law is to ensure that the person is healed and to reintegrate them into society. Now, life imprisonment sentences do not have this property. As this situation turns into a death corridor, life has turned into a punishment. In other words, in addition to the punishment given, life itself has turned into punishment. Therefore, it is against human nature. It is both a discriminatory practice in terms of law and a racist practice in terms of politics.”

 

PATRIMONIAL REGIME

 

Saying that Norway abolished life imprisonment sentences in the 1880s, and then Portugal, Spain, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kanar said that the right to hope for freedom is a fundamental principle for every human being, according to the decisions of the German and Italian Constitutional Courts therefore life sentences should be reviewed periodically. Expressing that Turkey is not a state of law and therefore does not comply with the aforementioned decisions, Kanar said, “The AKP has eliminated all traces of law in the past 10 years. Turkey has turned into a patrimonial regime. What I mean by this is a corporate-type state with a dictatorial father at the head of it. It is the elimination of the legislative, executive, judicial separation and the gathering of all three powers in one hand. Therefore, the decisions of the ECtHR are not followed.”

 

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

 

Reminding that the Committee of Council of Europe  is responsible to enforce the ECtHR decisions, Kanar said that the committee should act boldly and warn Turkey. Saying that if the warning is not followed, the decision should be taken to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR, Kanar said, “When the decision is made by the Grand Chamber, it should be sanctioned. What sanctions could there be? The right to vote at the Council of Europe can be taken away from Turkey. A further solution could remove Turkey from the council membership. Unfortunately, the political conjuncture does not seem appropriate for such sanctions. Europe is going through a weak period. Therefore, it does not even implement its own decision. Economic and political decisions prevent the implementation of such sanctions."

 

MANDELA RULES 

 

Reminding that the United Nations (UN) introduced mandatory rules to be applied for prisoners, Kanar said these rules were revised in 2005. Underlining that these rules called the Mandela Rules are being violated by Turkey, Kanar continued, "According to these rules, there should never be a long-term solitary confinement sentence. Even in the most severe disciplinary punishments, family visits should not be prohibited. Regardless, the prisoner should be kept in a prison close to where his family is. Again, his communication and lawyer visits should not be provided. All non-prohibited publications should be available without censorship. The prisoner must also be given a copy of the records kept about him in the prison. But Turkey is disregarding the Mandela rules.”

 

'LIFE IMPRISONMENT MUST BE ABOLISHED' 

 

Stating that political parties must be pressured in order for the implementation of these rules, Kanar said: "The main opposition claiming to be social democrats ignores this issue completely. They cover up the discriminatory and racist practices in the prison system. Ofcourse it does not make any sense to expect this from İYİ Party. However the parties that claim to be social democrats must stand against these violations. For example, the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP) needs to have a more firm stance against these violations. HDP alone will not be able to do it on its own. Life imprisonment should now be removed from the penal code. Penal legislation should get rid of such inhuman, discriminatory and degrading forms of punishment. Just as we once called the death penalty a "bankrupt punishment method", now life imprisonment is an outdated punishment. Human rights institutions and legal institutions need to campaign for this penalty to be removed from the legislation.”

 

MA / Ferhat Çelik