TUHAY-DER co-chair Edibe Babur protested the imposition of remorse used against political prisoners in Van jails as a blackmail tool to postpone their release. She said that the situation had reached dire proportions.

Van TUHAY-DER President Edibe Babur evaluated the imposition of torture, ill-treatment and the ‘regret’ tool in Van and Patnos prisons in recent months to ANF.

Babur said: “Our friends are subjected to all kinds of violence and torture. The situation in Patnos are very, very bad. According to our families, the imposition of the ‘regret’ tool is imposed on political prisoners. They are told that if they repent, they will be set free. If they do not accept this blackmail, they are sentenced to solitary confinement. The Ministry of Justice said a solution should be found for this.”

Babur said that prisoners see their release delayed not only Patnos Prison, but also in Van High Security Prison, and added: "Prisoners are exposed to this inhuman treatment because they say they won’t repent. There can be no such cruelty. There are political prisoners who have served 30 years and see their release delayed. As if a 30-year sentence was not enough, they are given an extra 6-month sentence. What are they trying to do, will these people really regret in 6 months? This is not an acceptable situation. We call on the government to discourage these policies.”