Asrın Law Office has applied to the CPT (Committee for the Prevention of Torture) regarding the violations in the right to visit their families and lawyers against Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan and the three other prisoners in Imrali, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş.

The rejections of visits violates the right to communication, said the lawyers who listed one by one the applications they made demanding visits and the answers they got from the authorities. In addition the lawyers also listed the other violations the prisoners had been suffering, pointing out that isolation and repeated sanctions imposed on prisoners amount to torture.

The lawyers argued that Öcalan and the three other applicants are completely disconnected and isolated from the outside world. "Our clients are denied the most basic rights: access to health, defense and communication. Sharing legal thoughts and opinions is prevented in letters sent about legal applications and transactions.

Call to the CPT

In the application, lawyers underlined the recommendations in the reports published by the CPT after its visit in Imrali, and added that the relevant recommendations were not followed in the last three months.

In the application lawyers noted that there was no change in the practices regarding discrimination detected during the Committee's visit in 2016. "Prohibition and denial of Mr. Öcalan's access to the right to a phone call, for example, continue since 1999 despite the specific advice made by your Committee".

In the last part of the application, requests were made such as granting rights to meet with the lawyers and families, and taking an effective monitoring process in order to eliminate the rights violations suffered.

Lawyers also asked the CPT to "announce a reasonable period of time in order to ensure that the findings and recommendations written after the CPT visit to Imrali Island Prison on 6-17 May 2019 are actually taken into account and implemented."