PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan held a meeting with his nephew Ömer Öcalan on 23 October in the context of the recent discussions on the Kurdish issue. Apart from this meeting, Abdullah Öcalan has been held under isolation for about 45 months. Imrali prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş are also held under isolation.

 

Asrin Law Office made a new application to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) against the isolation in İmralı. The application includes the developments and demands for Abdullah Öcalan and 3 other prisoners in August, September, October and November.

 

In the application, it was stated that 34 applications for lawyer visits and 18 applications for family visits were made to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison during the 4-month period, and it was emphasised that the applications remained unanswered. Between 25 March 2021 and 23 October 2021, not a single news was received from those in İmralı, and it was reminded that Ömer Öcalan went to İmralı on 23 October for family visits and it was said: "Since this date, no other visits have been permitted in İmralı Island Prison." 

 

'DISCIPLINARY' PENALTIES

 

It is underlined in the application that Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners are not allowed to meet with their families and guardians on the grounds of at least 24 disciplinary penalties recurring every three months, and it is emphasised that these processes are carried out secretly from their lawyers in violation of the law, and that they are not given file samples despite the demand of the lawyers. On 4 July, Abdullah Öcalan was given a new disciplinary penalty and it was pointed out in the application that a new disciplinary penalty was given on 16 October while the disciplinary penalty was in effect. It is stated in the application that the appeals against the disciplinary penalties made to the Bursa Execution Judgeship and Bursa Heavy Penal Court were rejected and that an application will be made to the Constitutional Court.

 

VISITS ARE PREVENTED

 

It is emphasised in the application that the applications were not responded positively or negatively even when there was no disciplinary penalty, "Since the previous three-month disciplinary penalty was finalised on 31 July 2024, it legally should have ended on 31 October 2024. As explained above, the most recent disciplinary penalty of 16 October 2024 was finalised on 5 November 2024. Hence, there cannot have been a disciplinary penalty in force between 31 October 2024 and 5 November 2024.Despite this, the requests for family visits made on 1 November 2024 were left without any response. While we do already not consider the disciplinary penalties imposed systematically in succession as legal and legitimate, it is obvious that there is no legal justification for not allowing family visits even when there are no disciplinary penalties in force. These practices are manifestations of the arbitrary and unlawful system established in İmralı Prison."

 

Reminding that lawyers and human rights defenders made a statement in front of the Constitutional Court on 4 October, the application stated that the statement reminded the Constitutional Court of its responsibility. It was pointed out that the statement was made to put an end to the rights violations in İmralı Prison.

 

MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS REMINDED

 

The application also referred to the "violation" decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on 18 March 2014, and reminded that Turkey has not taken any steps regarding the decision for 10 years. "The Committee expressed concern over the lack of any meaningful progress from the Turkish Government and repeated its request for the statistical information that was supposed to be submitted in September 2022 but was arbitrarily withheld by the government. Additionally, the Committee decided to review the Öcalan (2) decision group again in September 2025. Moreover, given the long-standing issues regarding the right to hope and the insufficiency of the Government’s efforts, the Committee instructed its secretariat to prepare an interim resolution draft if concrete progress is not achieved by the Government by September 2025. Whether Turkey will take lawful steps in response to these international developments remains uncertain at this stage," it was said in application.

 

The application reminded that aggravated life imprisonment without the right to conditional release was ruled as "torture" by the ECtHR and stated that the CPT should show "sensitivity" about İmralı Prison. The application emphasised that İmralı Prison has not been improved since the past, and underlined that the CPT did not announce the 2022 report and that the failure to announce it led to the continuation of the "torture" situation.

 

REQUESTS

 

The following requests were made in the application:

 

"*To urgently conduct an ad-hoc visit to İmralı Prison considering the absolute and growing uncertainty regarding the situation in İmralı since 22 September 2022 and the new level conditions in the prisons have reached over the course of the past two years;

 

*To take all necessary steps to ensure that the current conditions of detention are brought in line with human dignity, that the applicants are able to exercise all communication rights that ensure and protect their links with the outside world, in particular lawyer and family visits, and that the systematic and illegal restriction of these rights is put an end to;

 

*To urgently adopt and execute as well as publicly announce compulsive measures and the procedures under Article 10/2 of the Convention to eliminate the conditions of torture, inhuman, and ill-treatment, to share with the public its general observations since the past about the extraordinary isolation regime in İmralı, particularly the observations made during the visit on 22 September 2022, especially if lawyer and family visits do not take place as soon as possible, and to add the report on the visit of 22 September 2022 to the statement within the scope of the procedure."

 

MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu