Asrin Law Office with appeal against the isolation: Stop this injustice and lawlessness

Leader Abdullah Ocalan has been held under severe isolation for 23 years in the type F High Security Prison of Imrali. Asrin Law Office released a written statement regarding the  3 years of prohibition of meetings.

`MEETINGS ARE ILLEGALLY PREVENTED`

In the statement, it was said that their client has not been able to benefit from his rights defined in domestic and international laws for the past 3 years. It was constantly said that after the meeting with the lawyers on July 27, 2011 and May 2, 2019, all the applications made with the request for a meeting are blocked in an extrajudicial manner.

`HUNGER STRIKES BROKE THE ISOLATION TO SOME EXTENT`

The office stated that Leyla Guven, co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (KCD) and HDP parliamentarian, initiated a hunger strike on November 11 2018 with the aim of ending the severe isolation in Imrali and for meetings to take place with Ocalan and said: “The hunger strike spread throughout the prisons and thousands of prisoners joined the irreversable and indefinite hunger strike. The hunger strike managed to break the isolation to some extent.”

`POLITICAL WILL IS DECISIVE IN IMRALI`

The lawyers reminded that during the meetings of the lawyers during a 3 month period, Ccalan announced to the public that he is ready to solve the Kurdish problem through democratic and peaceful means and the statement continued: “He put an end to the hunger strikes. Shortly after the lawyers' meeting on May 2, 2019, the Minister of Justice himself appeared before the cameras on May 16, 2019 and announced that there is no legal problem for the lawyers' meetings in Imrali. But unfortunately, after the meeting on August 7 2019, all applications for meetings have since been rjected. From that day until now, not a single meeting with the lawyers has taken place in Imrali. The hunger strikes that took place at that time and the statements of the minister of justice later show that it is not the law but the policies of the political will that are decisive in Imrali.

From the meeting on July 27, 2011 to the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, within 5 years, all the lawyers' requests for a meeting were rejected by the authorities on the grounds of 'bad weather' or `the ferry is broken`. After the July 15th coup attempt, a state of emergency was declared and Bursa's Criminal Court decided to ban the meeting of lawyers in Imraliye as a first step. In later times, in an extrajudicial manner, with a state of emergency decree, they paved the way for these prohibitions and they tried to coat this with a `legal` pretext. With this, it is the first time in the Turkish legal system that with a new arrangement, the representation of individuals on lawyers was limited - in Imraliye it was completely removed in practice. In order to show what negative effects the system of isolation in Imrali has on the legal system, we want to say this; The amendment, which prohibits not the lawyer`s personal rights, but prohibits the lawyers from defending clients, was issued in 2004 targeting our client Abdullah Ocalan. As soon as this article of the law came into force, 15 of Ocalan's lawyers were banned from meeting him for upto one year. In later times, with the pretext of this law, decissions on banning meetings with Mr. Ocalan were made.

LAW IS CREATED ACCORDING TO THE PUNISHMENTS

In 2019, the minister of justice said: “Thee remain no legal issues preventing Ocalan`s lawyers to meet with him.”. But after a short time, on July 15 2016, the Criminal Court used the state of emergency as an excuse and decided to prohibit meeting for a period of 6 months so that this decission is always prolonged. From that date until now, this prohibition continues systematically. With the pretext of prohibitin meetings for 6 months, they dont let us meet our clients Mr Ocalan, Omar Hayri Konari, Vaysi Aktas and Hamili Yildirim. We would like to point out that these prohibition decisions do not contain any provisions of the relevant article added to the Penal Enforcement Law, which were added to impose penalties.

INFRINGEMENT AND ARBITRARY APPLICATIONS

One of the most concrete examples that shows how arbitrary and extrajudicial the isolation system in Imrali is; except Mr. Ocalan, all three of our other clients were brought to Imrali in January 2015. From that day until now, they have been applying for a meeting every week, but they have not met with their lawyers even once. But before they were brought to Imrali, in the prisons where they were held, and their status is the same as that of Imrali Prison. Previously, before a time limit was imposed, they were able to meet with their lawyers every day of the week.

Our client is being held in harsh conditions and we have only been able to meet him 5 times in 11 years and we have not received any information from him for 17 months. As his lawyers, we appeal to the bar associations, all human rights and law organizations, and the general public and ask the following; “How can this situation be seen as something normal? Can a prison like Imrali, where not a single civilian can take a step, happen in a country that has the rule of law written in its Constitution? Is it possible that the legal system, like Imrali`s isolation system, can be seen as a normal phenomenon? How long will the Turkish society remain silent in the face of this injustice, which is unprecedented in any part of the world, and face the facts?”

CALL FOR AWARNESS

We would like to remind you that legal systems cannot tolerate such 'exceptional' situations for a long time. After a while it spreads throughout the system and puts the system in such a state that it cannot work. The social, political and economic situation in Turkey today is also a sign of this fact. For the peace of the society and a democratic and legal state, the entire public should see this fact and say enough to this injustice and lawlessness. Our appeal to everyone is to act with awarness towards the inhuman isolation in Imraliye.