​​​​​​​Uysal: Oppression, torture continues in Imrali prison for 24 years till now

The international conspiracy against the leader Abdullah Ocalan began to expel him from Syria 24 years ago. The leader Ocalan was handed over to the Turkish state on February 15, 1999, and he has been resisting under conditions of strict isolation in Imrali prison since then. There has been no news from him for 19 months, as the conditions of isolation have been tightened further. The Turkish state continues its efforts to deprive him of the "Right of Hope." In such a situation; The Committee against Torture visited Imrali suddenly and unplanned. However, it did not provide any information about the leader, Abdullah Ocalan, while it became clear that a new disciplinary punishment had been imposed on the leader before the commission's visit to Imrali.

The lawyer for the leader, Abdullah Ocalan, spoke; Newroz Uysal on the international conspiracy, the extreme isolation, the sudden visit of the Committee against Torture to Imrali and "the Right of Hope".

At what stage does the international conspiracy continue?

Newroz Uysal said: “Legally, what we call international detention does not exist, neither in Turkish laws, nor in international and European asylum treaties, nor in the entity and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (DMME). This continues today with isolation and the absence of legal decisions and despite the objection to Isolation in the political sense, and regardless of the fact that the international conspiracy aims to put an end to the influence of Abdullah Ocalan and the Kurdish movement in the person of Abdullah Ocalan, but if it does not continue in the same way and with the design of the four parts of Kurdistan, it continues by obstructing the realization of a political entity in Kurdistan with its four parts and not responding Turkey's war on Kurdistan.

Newroz Uysal continued, saying: "The insistence on pursuing the main objective of the conspiracy continues, and at the same time, the leader Abdullah Ocalan continues to adhere to his principles in Imrali, and the loyalty of the Kurdish people and the peoples of the Middle East to Mr. Ocalan continues.

The practices that Imrali witnessed 24 years ago

Many things have changed in Imrali Maximum Security Prison in the person of leader Ocalan in 24 years. Newroz Uysal commented on these changes and amendments, saying: “Imrali represents the establishment of a public system and it is a system that has been established and maintained according to a private system since its construction until now. This system includes legal and political aspects. The biggest reason for the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan in Imrali prison is that it is on an island. He has been detained alone on Imrali Island for 10 years.

He faces strict security measures.

Nowruz Uysal revealed that there are special guard units, whose exact number has not yet been disclosed, standing outside the section where the leader is being detained. The building in which he is detained is similar to the rest of the Turkish prisons, but it is an isolated area in which he is detained alone."

Preventing health services

Newroz Uysal explained that he has been forbidden to talk to the guards for years and continued, "Only the prison administration can meet him whenever it wants. The conditions in which Ocalan is detained do not allow him to communicate directly with anyone. Because he is on an island, it takes a long time to provide for his needs. Going to Another city it takes 3-4 hours. So health services must be sent to the island. So far there is no specialized medical team on the island. There is an attempt to overcome this through general doctors who are changed every 15 days or by hiring specialized doctors as needed. But This is not enough."

There is no legal basis to prevent the meetings

Newroz Uysal commented on the legal work of the Committee against Torture, which has 46 members under its banner, saying: “The Committee against Torture is an international organization for the prevention of torture and is responsible for monitoring the situation in Turkish prisons in accordance with the treaties of Turkey and the European Union. We have submitted hundreds of applications as lawyers for him since his transfer. Imrali prison until now. The reason for these requests is to prevent the allegation of torture for which the Committee against Torture was created. The way to prevent this is to conduct regular annual or monthly visits to these countries, publish reports on the countries concerned and inform these countries about the status of the reports, and after informing these countries. Countries willingly share this report...but they have the right and the authority to make a statement. This is a very long process."

Only 9 visits since 1999

Uysal explained that Imrali prison is the only one of its kind among the prisons of the 46 countries under the influence of the Committee against Torture and referred to this recognition by the Committee against Torture itself. It pointed out that the committee should conduct regular and periodic visits to Imrali island due to the violation of legal treaties, inhuman and immoral practices that Imrali is witnessing. Uysal said that the committee should exert diplomatic and legal pressure to change the existing system in Imrali by conducting visits and preparing periodic reports every 3-6 months. To change the status quo by changing the diplomatic pressure tool. With the exception of the last visit, only eight visits were made. This is a very weak and irresponsible position that is only taken when needed."

'The Committee against Torture conducted an unplanned visit'

Newroz Uysal revealed that they did not know the reason for the recent visit of the Committee against Torture to Turkey and commented on this visit, saying: “Their last visit is not part of their plan. They came to inspect the immigration services and refugee centers and Imrali is the only prison they visited. We send periodic reports every three months to the Committee against Torture. In some periods we hold direct meetings and made many requests and pleaded a lot about the absence of any news at all for 19 consecutive months. We do not know whether this visit was conducted as a result of the requests we submitted, or the increase in international pressures and appeals, or because of the request made by more than 2,000 lawyers for the Ministry of Justice, the Committee against Torture and the Council of Europe.

Newroz Uysal continued, "These visits take place as a normal procedure without informing us, they do not assume such responsibility. They are not obligated to inform the people after the visit. They only make a statement that they are coming to visit. But there is a very exceptional prison on the legal level. They recently described in their report for 2020 torture and its system. The system of implementation is not considered humane and they said that it should be changed. They also made several proposals to Turkey regarding communication with the outside world. But this has never been implemented. There is isolation and there is insistence on its tightening. The Committee against Torture has no reports and does not even fulfill its responsibilities and treaties."

The position of the European Court of Human Rights is not different from that of the Committee against Torture

Lawyer Newroz Uysal clarified that the position of the European Court of Human Rights is not very different from that of the Committee against Torture and said: “Abdullah Ocalan has so far submitted dozens of requests to the European Court of Human Rights. The Court has seen torture at times and admitted the isolation in its decisions. It took a decision to change the law adopted by Turkey. Based on its security concerns, and there are decisions to determine the law on Abdullah Ocalan's political position. And if we summarize the situation of the European Court of Human Rights; Finally, after eight years, five lawyers visited Ocalan. Family meetings were also obstructed for years. He applied for this and it ended All legal procedures have been in place for more than 10 years and the legal process was completed about two years ago, but the European Court of Human Rights has not issued a single decision. The process of issuing this law does not take that long. There is a mechanism that is applied across time stages, as it suspends and predicts political and temporal processes. Unfortunately, the position of these mechanisms encouraged Turkey to continue its current isolation and made it part of these inhumane practices.”

It is noteworthy that on March 18, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of the request for a severe life sentence against the leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been detained under conditions of tight isolation in Imrali prison for 23 years. In its response to the European Council after its request to implement the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the Turkish state admitted that the "Right of Hope" had not been used.

The Right of Hope" and leader Ocalan

On March 18, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the leader Abdullah Ocalan was sentenced to life imprisonment without conditional release. It is a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This decision, known as "Ocalan 2", refers to depriving the leader of the "right to hope", and this leads to a violation of the prohibition of torture.

After the Turkish state did not take any action regarding the violation decision; On August 9, the al-Asr Law Office submitted a request to the Committee of Ministers of the European Council. In its response to the request, Turkey admitted depriving the leader, Ocalan, of "the Right of Hope."

The Committee of Ministers of the European Council invited Turkey to provide information on progress in implementing the general measures by the end of September 2022.

Newroz Uysal spoke about the "Right of Hope" that leader Ocalan was deprived of, saying: "The right to hope is that the detainee will not remain in prison until death. The abolition of legal reforms related to this and the non-abolition of the right to leave prison.

Lawyer Newroz Uysal also explained that they reiterated the committee's demands to change the laws in Turkey and continued by saying: "This does not require Turkey to abide by a 25-year period, as it can limit this period to ten or fifteen years. It can also issue an official decision not to prevent or impede Abdullah's freedom." Ocalan changes the laws and puts in place a very different regulation. At the end of this process, the necessary legal reforms can open the way to Abdullah Ocalan's freedom, and on the contrary, very different things can happen. No doubt that what will determine this is the seriousness of the legal struggle for lawyers on the one hand and close monitoring by Institutions and people in Turkey and the world of law and human rights. Because the committee is not yet ready to take a serious step in this matter. We will strive steadfastly until this is achieved."

T/ Satt.

ANHA