Asrin Law Office made a new application to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) against the isolation in İmralı. According to a report by the Mesopotamia Agency, the application included the developments and demands for Öcalan and 3 other prisoners in August, September, October and November.

The lawyers said that 34 applications for lawyer visits and 18 applications for family visits in İmralı were submitted during the 4-month period, and the applications remained unanswered. No news was received from those in İmralı between 25 March 2021 and 23 October 2024, when Ömer Öcalan went to to the island. No other visits have been allowed in İmralı Island Prison since.

The process carried out secretly from the lawyers

The lawyers pointed out that Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners were not allowed to meet with their families and guardians on the grounds of at least 24 disciplinary penalties renewed every three months, and these processes were carried out secretly from their lawyers in violation of the law, as lawyers were not given file samples despite repeated requests. On 4 July, Abdullah Öcalan was given a new disciplinary penalty, and while it was still in effect, a new disciplinary penalty was given on 16 October. On the other hand, the objections made to the Bursa Execution Judgeship and Bursa Heavy Penal Court against the disciplinary penalties were rejected, and an application will be filed to the Constitutional Court (AYM).

Applications not responded positively or negatively

The lawyers emphasised that the applications were not responded positively or negatively on the dates when there was no disciplinary punishment: “Since the 3-month disciplinary penalty on 4 July became final on 31 July, the last legally validity date is 31 October. As we explained above, the last disciplinary penalty dated 16 October 2024 became final on 5 November 2024. Therefore, there can be no talk of a disciplinary penalty between 31 July and 5 November, legally and de facto. There is no disciplinary penalty covering the period between these dates. Nevertheless, no positive or negative response was given to the application made by the families and guardians on 1 November 2024. While we do not accept the disciplinary penalties imposed in succession in a systematic manner as legal and legitimate, it is obvious that there is no legal justification for not allowing family visits even when disciplinary penalties are not in force. This situation consists of the practices of an arbitrary and illegal system.”

The application noted that lawyers and human rights defenders made a statement in front of the Constitutional Court on 4 October and reminded the Constitutional Court of its responsibility, calling for an end to the rights violations in İmralı Prison.

It is unclear at this stage whether Turkey will take steps in accordance with the law

The application also referred to the ‘violation’ decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on 18 March 2014 regarding Abdullah Öcalan and noted that Turkey has not taken any steps regarding the decision for 10 years. The lawyers also recalled that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe took the ‘violation’ decision on its agenda for the second time in September, and said: “The Committee, taking into account the long persistence of the problems within the scope of the right to hope and the inadequacy of the Government's work, instructed the secretariat to prepare a draft interim decision if no concrete progress is made by the government by September 2025. It is unclear at this stage whether Turkey will take steps in accordance with the law in response to these international developments.”

The application emphasised that aggravated life imprisonment without the right to conditional release was ruled as ‘torture’ by the ECtHR and stated that the CPT should show ‘sensitivity’ about İmralı Prison. It also emphasised that İmralı Prison has not been improved since the past, and the CPT did not announce the 2022 report and its failure to announce the report led to the continuation of the ‘torture’.

Demands

The application included the following demands:

‘* An urgent (ad-hoc) visit to İmralı Prison in the face of the reality that the current conditions in İmralı have continued in uncertainty since your last visit on 22 September 2022 and have gradually hardened, and that the conditions have reached a new level in a period of more than 2 years,

* Initiation of all necessary initiatives to ensure that the current conditions of detention of the applicants are brought in line with human dignity, that all communication rights that will ensure and protect their ties with the outside world, especially visits to their lawyers and families, are fulfilled, and that systematic disciplinary penalties and bans on lawyers are put an end to,

* We demand that the coercive measure to eliminate the conditions of torture, inhuman and ill-treatment be taken; that the procedure regulated in Article 10/2 of the Convention be initiated and announced, that the general observations made since the past regarding the extraordinary isolation regime in İmralı, especially the observations made during the visit on 22 September 2022, be shared with the public, especially if the lawyer and family visits cannot be enabled as soon as possible, and that the visit report dated 22 September 2022 be decided to be added to the statement within the scope of the procedure.”