Lawyers representing Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), welcomed the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture’s (CPT) visit to İmralı prison and called on the European body to take publish it’s results so as to eliminate the conditions of isolation and torture.
The Asrin Law Firm’s lawyers underlined in a statement that they have still not heard from Öcalan as well as their three other clients for 18 months. They stressed that their main urgent demand remains: that the ban on family and legal visits to prisoners on Imrali Island is lifted without further delay.
The delegation of the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out an ad hoc visit to Turkey from 20 to 29 September 2022 that included a visit to the Imrali Island prison complex.
The full statement of Öcalan’s lawyers is as follows:
‘We have expressed many times that we have not received any news from our clients Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Veysi Aktaş and Hamili Yıldırım since 25 March 2021, and that we are worried about their health and life. We welcome the CPT, which is one of the main interlocutor institutions across Europe in this field, to take such a step, albeit belatedly, after all our applications, calls and initiatives made by the national and international legal community.
The CPT published the report of its last visit in May 2019, exactly 15 months later and stated that serious steps should be taken especially at the point of communication with the outside world. However, after the CPT visit, while an improvement was needed in line with the recommendations in the visit reports, the isolation policy for our clients on İmrali Island remained and the isolation was further deepened.
While we see the CPT’s visit as a positive initiative, we would also like to express in particular that this does not change the fact that we have still not heard anything for past 18 months. Lifting the ban on lawyers and family visits, and respecting our right to meet with our clients without restrictions and limitations still continues to be our main demands. While the gravity of the situation is obvious; We demand that the CPT make a public statement as soon as possible and implement strong measures and procedures to eliminate the conditions of torture.
As his lawyers, we expect the public, legal and human rights circles to maintain their sensitive approach in order to provide the opportunity to meet with Mr. Öcalan and other prisoners in İmralı.’
In a statement on the recent inspections in Turkey, CPT said the delegation visited İmralı prison “to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of all [four] prisoners currently held in the establishment”.
“In this connection, particular attention was paid to the communal activities offered to the prisoners and their contacts with the outside world,” it said.
The head of the CPT delegation, Therese Rytter, who visited İmralı, told Medya News that their report about the visit will be submitted to the Turkish authorities in March. “They then have 6 months to respond and it will be up to them to decide whether or not they wish the CPT to publish the report. This is always the prerogative of member states, not CPT,” Rytter said.
When asked whether the delegation met with the PKK leader and assessed his medical condition, Rytter told Medya News “We visited all four prisoners currently held at Imrali prison. As you will surely understand, we cannot comment on our findings until the report is made public.”
