The families of Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan and the other prisoners in Imrali applied to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Imrali Prison Directorate for a meeting.
There has been no news from Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan for nearly two years and there is absolute isolation imposed on him.
Abdullah Öcalan’s brother Mehmet Öcalan and his guardian Mazlum Dinç, Ömer Hayri Konar's brother Ali Konar, Hamili Yıldırım's brother Polat Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş's sister Melihe Çetin applied to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to request a visit to their relatives.
Families also applied to the Directorate of Imrali F Type High Security Closed Penal Institution through the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
Lawyers are requesting to meet with Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan twice a week. However, applications for visits are systematically left unanswered. In some cases, months later, lawyers are told that disciplinary action has been taken against the Kurdish people's leader and therefore no visit can be granted.
In the past weeks, it was learned that after the ban on visits imposed to Abdullah Öcalan on 13 April ended on 18 October, this ban was automatically extended for another six months.
Concerns increased after the CPT visit to Imrali
Concerns over the situation of the Kurdish people's leader increased after the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visited Turkey on September 20-29. In a statement on 3 October, the CPT announced that İmralı F Type High Security Prison was among the institutions it visited.
However, Asrın Law Office reported that during the CPT visit, there was no meeting with Abdullah Öcalan, and that this increased their concerns. Asrın Law Office said on 29 November: “We have heard that Mr. Öcalan did not see the CPT delegation during its visit to Imrali Island in September 2022.”
