İbrahim Bilmez, lawyer for Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, warns that the situation at Turkey’s İmralı Island Prison has reached a critical point, with no communication from inmates for over 40 months.
“We’re at the final point in İmralı, it can’t get worse than this,” Bilmez stated on Monday in an interview with ANF. He emphasised that the CPT must now apply Article 10/2 against Turkey, which allows for public statements on non-compliant countries.
Bilmez highlighted the unprecedented nature of İmralı’s isolation system. “If you know of another prison with conditions similar to İmralı, please tell us at the end of the conference,” he said, addressing a meeting at the UN Geneva Office.
The lawyer detailed the legal efforts to challenge the isolation. “We apply twice weekly to both Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and İmralı Prison Directorate for lawyer visits. We also apply weekly on behalf of families. None of these receive any response,” he explained.
Bilmez criticised Turkey’s Constitutional Court for effectively acting as a barrier, holding over 60 pending applications. He also expressed concern over the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delay in ruling on a 2012 application regarding group isolation at İmralı.
“CPT visited İmralı for the last time in September 2022 but still hasn’t published its report,” Bilmez noted. He urged the CPT to make a public statement, saying, “The time has come for CPT to implement Article 10/2 of its own procedure.”
Emphasising the urgency of the situation, Bilmez concluded, “We can’t experience a worse situation than what we’re living through today regarding the İmralı isolation. That’s why CPT must do whatever is necessary now.”
