An important recent development came to pass on the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s demand. The Bursa Executive Court No.1 issued a new verdict for Öcalan and other prisoners in Imrali, Hamili Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş. The verdict dated September 6, 2018 bans lawyer meetings for 6 months. The Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed to the Bursa Executive Court No.1 and cited 11 separate counts of solitary confinement punishments issued between 2005 and 2009 and the disciplinary council verdict regarding a 156-page letter in 2009 as the reason for the demand for the ban.

The Prosecutor’s Office cited another reason as: “[...] the convicts who are members of a terrorist organization have had their visits with their lawyers leaked to the press in the past. It has been discussed among the public at the time that the convict Abdullah Öcalan continued to run his organization through orders given in these meetings. Allegations that lawyers have facilitated communication between the convicts and the terrorist organization or other criminal organizations and that the orders convict Abdullah Öcalan gave in visits with his lawyers constitute crimes [...]”

Turkish judiciary claimed that as “it is understood that the convict may again issue orders through the other convicts in the same facility,” Öcalan and other convicts should be barred from meeting with their lawyers for 6 months. The Bursa Executive Court No.1 has accepted this demand and the appeal submitted by the lawyers against the verdict has been rejected.

NO MEETINGS SINCE 2011

Asrin Law Office lawyers haven’t been able to meet with their client Öcalan since July 27, 2011. Each one of the 100 lawyer appeals and 44 family appeals submitted in 2017 have been arbitrarily rejected with reference to the unlawful verdict by the Bursa Executive Court. As such, the situation where the 3 other prisoners transferred to the Imrali Island Prison haven’t been able to meet with their family or lawyers since continued.

The only contact after the meeting on April 5, 2015 the HDP committee held was the family visit on September 11, 2016 that happened only after over 50 Kurdish politicians held a hunger strike. There has been no contact with Öcalan or the other 3 prisoners since then, including any forms of letters, telegrams or faxes. It has similarly been impossible to reach them with mail from the outside.

HELD ALONE FOR YEARS

Öcalan was held in Imrali on his own from February 16, 1999 to November 17, 2009. 5 prisoners were transferred to the island afterwards, but he was still in a solitary ward, allowed to meet with the other prisoners for up to 5 hours a week. This meant not that the isolation had ended, but rather transformed and now included others.

THREAT TO HIS LIFE

Recently concerns and doubts regarding Öcalan’s health and safety have increased. There were claims regarding Öcalan’s life in October 2017. On October 13, Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor Ugurhan Kus issued a written statement, which was far from satisfactory in terms of information it provided. It was far from serious, referring to Öcalan like a “regular prisoner”. KCK issued a statement demanding the clarification that such news were not true, and said, “It is a most fundamental right for his family, his lawyers and the public to know about Leader Apo’s health.”

INTERNATIONAL DELEGATION LEFT WITHOUT RESPONSE

On top of the lawyers and Öcalan’s family, an international delegation made up of European Parliament MPs, trade unionists, academics and human rights activists from various countries requested a meeting with the Ministry of Justice. The delegation requested to visit the Imrali Island Prison on February 17-18-19, 2017 but the appeal was left without a response.

ECHR: TORTURE AND MISTREATMENT

Öcalan’s conditions had been identified as “torture and mistreatment” by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Second Section on March 14, 2014. The Asrin Law Office agreed: “Mr. Öcalan hasn’t been able to exercise any of the rights the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures Act No.5275 defines, these rights have been all-out obstructed.”

CPT’S IRRESPONSIBILITY

The Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) hasn’t performed in a way that fulfills their responsibility towards the isolation/torture in Imrali. The institution has the authority to visit prisons and write reports on the rights violations they encounter, as an organ of the Council of Europe of which Turkey is a member. The CPT held a visit to the Imrali Prison on April 28-29, 2016 but hasn’t published this report, unlike in their 6 previous visits, because Turkey didn’t approve the report for publication. The CPT had reported numerous rights violations in the Imrali Prison in previous visits and posed suggestions for their alleviation, and the institution receives criticism for remaining silent in the face of the absolute lack of any form of communication with the prison today.