Since March 25, 2021, there has been no sign of life from the prisoners on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara. There is no contact whatsoever with Abdullah Öcalan and his fellow prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş. Due to this situation, the Asrin Law Office, which represents Öcalan and his fellow prisoners, once again turned to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and demanded an investigation into the current total isolation and systematic violation of the ban on torture by the Council of Europe institution.

273 requests for visits were made in 2021

The lawyers told the Mezopotamya news agency (MA) that they had submitted various requests during the year to visit their clients, to learn about their situation and to assert their basic rights guaranteed by law. None of the requests was granted. In 2021, the legal team submitted 71 requests for family visits and 202 requests for their own visits. The lawyers explain: "But none of the requests for visitation was granted. Various applications to institutions such as the Bursa Execution Court, the Ministry of Justice and the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission and the Constitutional Court were also unsuccessful."

"Nothing leaks out from Imrali"

Asrin Law Office's application to the CPT describes the Imrali detention as "incommunicado" detention, a Spanish legal term that stems from the torture and isolation of "terrorist suspects" by the Spanish state and has led to Spain's condemnation at the European Court of Human Rights on several occasions. The law office points out in the application that letters to clients on Imrali have also not been answered. Regarding the isolation of prisoners on Imrali, the application states, "The cutting off of all means of communication with the outside world and the continuation of this practice indefinitely constitute a violation of the prohibition of inhuman treatment and ill-treatment."

Five lawyer visits in eleven years

The lawyers state that only five lawyer visits to Imrali have been made possible in the past eleven years. These five contacts took place within four months in 2019. No lawyer visits have been possible since August 7, 2019, and no family visits have been possible since March 3, 2020. The disciplinary sanctions that are repeatedly used to justify the isolation are issued in secret proceedings without the participation of legal counsel. This restriction is also a massive attack on the fundamental rights of detainees.

Call for immediate CPT visit to Imrali

In order to ensure the rights of detainees on Imrali, the legal team calls for an immediate CPT visit to Imrali. This, they say, is an inescapable necessity arising from the "violation of the prohibition of torture."

The demands of the Asrin Law Office are as follows:

* The committee must visit Imrali as soon as possible.

* It must be ensured that lawyers, relatives and legal representatives visit the prisoners immediately. It must be guaranteed that visits are made possible on a permanent basis.

* At the same time, the right to regular telephone calls must be guaranteed in parallel with opportunities for visits. It must be possible to use means of communication such as letters and faxes.

* Prisoners must have access to newspapers, magazines and books.

* Torture and ill-treatment must be ended, and mandatory measures and courses of action must be introduced to this end.”

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