İSTANBUL - Asrın Law Office applied to the CPT for an "urgent visit" request for PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and prisoners Hamili Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş, who have not been heard from for the last 17 months.

 

An application has been made to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) regarding the incommunicado situation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and prisoners Hamili Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş, who are held under severe isolation conditions in İmralı Type F High Security Prison, for 17 months. In the application made by Asrın Law Office, it was stated that the "incommunicado" condition, which means absolute lack of communication harboring the risk of all kinds of violations, continue. In the application, which draws attention to the systematic violation of the prohibition of torture in Imrali, the CPT was informed about the developments covering the dates between April and August 2022.

 

REJECTION TO 61 APPLICATIONS IN 5 MONTHS

 

Between April 1 and August 31, 2022, applications for 40 lawyer meetings and 21 family visits were submitted to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Directorate of Imrali F Type High Security Closed Penitentiary Institution. It was reported that all the applications in question were rejected.

 

THE APPLICATION OF 775 LAWYERS WAS LEFT UNANSWERED

 

In the application it was reminded that 775 lawyers submitted a petition for a visit to İmralı on June 10, 2022, however the application was left unanswered. It was also noted that the whereabouts of the letters sent to Öcalan between March and August is unknown and he was not allowed to make a phonecall during that time.

 

CALL FOR URGENT VISIT

 

In the application, it was stated that the mechanisms that would enable Öcalan and other prisoners to contact the outside world was blocked simultaneously and uninterruptedly, and they were deprived of all legal protection. In the application that requests CPT to visit İmralı Prison immediately, it was noted that the most fundamental duty of the Committee was to end the state of isolation without causing irreparable harm.

 

MA / Diren Yurtsever