Al-Asr office calls on the European Committee against Torture to immediately go to Imrali

There is no news from leader Abdullah Ocalan and the other detainees in Imrali Prison; Omer Hayrî Konar, Hamîlî Yildirim and Weysî Aktaş since March 25, 2021.

According to the Mesopotamia Agency; Lawyers for the Al-Asr human rights office have submitted a request to the Committee Against Torture (CPT), asking it to take over its responsibility immediately.

The lawyers indicated in the request that they had submitted numerous requests to meet with their clients, but that their judicial and administrative requests and all their other requests did not achieve any results. The request also states that there were 71 requests made to allow their families to meet with them and another 202 requests to allow lawyers to meet with their clients during 2021, but this was not allowed repeatedly, it was also stated: “We have reviewed the Bursa Execution Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Commission on Human Rights and the Supreme Constitutional Court many times, but these reviews have not achieved any results.

It described the right not to include any information in the text of the request as "isolation". It was noted that this continues under difficult circumstances. The text of the request also indicated that all mechanisms through which they would interact with the outside world were prevented and that this constituted a form of torture and a serious violation of rights.

Five meetings in 11 years

The statement also stated that during the past 11 years, only five meetings with lawyers were held in 2019, which took place within four months. While it has not been allowed to hold a meeting with lawyers since August 7, 2019, and with families, since March 3, 2020 until now.

It was also stated in the text of the request that the Execution Court in Bursa rejected the requests that were illegally submitted during the period between March 30, 2021 and November 22, 2021, and that the court imposed penal sanctions and a penalty to prevent illegal meetings with lawyers.

The request made it clear that the responsibility for the continuation of the regime of strict isolation rests with international bodies such as the European Committee against Torture, as much as it is an international responsibility. Therefore, the committee must visit Imrali prison immediately and verify the situation there and end this isolation.

Urgent demands

At the conclusion of the request, the lawyers wrote their demands as follows:

The committee should visit Imrali Island immediately.

Visits by lawyers should be approved and realized sooner, and should always be.

Interviews with detainees' families and guardians must be held regularly, and penal sanctions must be ended.

In addition to the right to visit, they must be allowed to fulfill their right to make constant phone calls.

Obstacles to communication tools such as letters and faxes must also be removed.

The illegal practices of newspapers, magazines and books must also be put to an end.

In addition to taking the necessary measures and working to end the case of torture and ill-treatment.

T/S

ANHA