Ocalan's lawyer: Turkish court has no right to impose sanctions

ANHA’s agency interviewed with lawyer, who talked about the disciplinary sanctions and preventing the visit, and we have not received any information of the leader for 27 months.

Mezlûm Dînç stated that the Turkish laws allow to the prisoner to meet his family once a week, and his lawyers also have the right to meet him whenever they want without hindrance.

He added, "International laws recognize these rights enacted and signed by Turkey, and according to Turkish law, anyone in prison has the right to visit his family and his family once a week, as well as his clients. These rights of detainees have been recognized in international agreements such as the Council of Europe and the United Nations, the Nelson Mandela Rules related to the treatment of prisoners."

Mezlûm Dînç pointed out that the leader Abdullah Ocalan has been living in strict isolation since the day of his arrest 25 years ago, and said: he is being deprived of his rights and restrictions are placed on him. Until 2011, lawyers used to meet with him, but in a limited way. They met with him per week for one hour. These practices unlawful and against Turkish laws.

He continued, "Meetings of his family were obstructed from time to time until 2014. In the last 10 years, his family and his lawyer met with him only 5 times. We do not receive any information about him, all communication channels are closed, messages, and the phone. We cannot communicate with Mr. Ocalan." And the three detainees in Imrali in any way.”

Mezlûm Dînç touched on the "disciplinary sanctions" imposed on him by the Turkish authorities recently, and explained: "Under the pretext of these penalties, family meetings are restricted every 3 months. These matters are not legal and against Turkish laws. The court should review its laws before imposing them."

Mezlûm Dînç shed light on Turkish laws, and emphasized: "There is no law that prohibits meetings with detainees for a long time. The law does not give the court the right to take such a decision. These laws do not have any legal structure, and their arguments are illegitimate and illegal according to Turkish law and the laws of the Committee of Nations." United Nations for Human Rights.

Mezlûm Dînç stated, "We had efforts regarding these non-legal matters that are happening, but there is no hope. All courts work under the command and influence of the authority. It is not possible for them to take a decision in isolation from the authority, and our human rights struggle at the level of international institutions will continue and we will transfer these matters to the courts." and international institutions.”

And about their efforts and endeavors on the international scene, Dînç indicated that they had visits to the United Nations courts and the Court of Human Rights in Europe to put them in the form of isolation and prevent lawyers from meeting, and he said: We send reports to the Committee Against Torture every 3 months, we want it to have a position and it performs the tasks that fall upon it, so why was this committee established? Isn't it to block the way for torture and violations occurring in prisons? These are its main tasks, but we see torture, isolation and violations in Imrali.

Dînç indicated that the Committee Against Torture has visited Imrali several times, and each time the Committee publishes reports explaining the conditions there, but the Committee has not yet disclosed its report on the visit it conducted in 2022.

Dînç stated that the committee adopted in its previous reports that the situation is unacceptable and contrary to international laws, and the committee called on the Turkish authorities to allow the detainees in Imrali to meet with their lawyers and families without restrictions, but Turkey does the opposite and continues to impose disciplinary sanctions and bans on family and lawyer meetings.

Regarding the reason for imposing "disciplinary penalties" against the leader Abdullah Ocalan, Mezlûm Dînç explained: "The Turkish authorities do not disclose the reason for these penalties. In Turkish law, it is forbidden to conceal any decisions and information from lawyers. Lawyers must know the information in order to be able to continue his human rights struggle and object to the decisions, and the court and prison administration that takes these measures know that these things are illegal."

He explained that the Turkish laws say that the courts are independent and not affiliated with any party, but in reality they are not and the courts are under the influence of the authority. It is not possible for the judge and the court to take any decision without returning to the Turkish authority. Rather, they make their decisions according to authority.

Regarding their efforts, Mezlûm Dînç stated, "We had objections before the Bursa Court and the Court of Law, but they remained without any result. At the international level, we previously presented these decisions to the Human Rights Committee last year, and explained to them that, apart from preventing us from meeting our client and preventing his family from communicating with him, we are prevented from obtaining information, and this is the most serious thing."

He noted, "We have not received any information about Mr. Ocalan and the three detainees in Imrali. Meetings and communication are prohibited under any circumstances. We sent some messages to receive some information, but we do not know whether these messages have arrived or not."

Mezlûm Dînç described what is happening in Imrali of torture as a "danger", and called on the Committee against Torture to end what is happening in Imrali urgently.

Mezlûm Dînç indicated that we had called on the Human Rights Committee and the United Nations to end the violations taking place in Imrali, and we explained the situation to them. They accepted our demands, and in September 2022 they called on the Turkish authorities to allow the detainees to meet with their lawyers, and in January 2023, the committee renewed its calls for the authorities to meet him but not implemented yet.

The leader's lawyer, Abdullah Ocalan Mezlûm Dînç, called on the Committee Against Torture to disclose the content of its report, and it must have a strong position, which was mentioned in its treaties and has the right, but it says we cannot publish the report without consulting the Turkish government.

Mezlûm Dînç explained that if a country persists in torture and violations of the rights of detainees, and does not follow the decisions of the Committee against Torture, then according to the committee's treaty and what is stated in Article 10, it can publish a statement to put public opinion in what is happening in terms of torture against detainees.

Mezlûm Dînç said: "Until now, the committee has not issued any statement. This situation is very dangerous. We explained to them that this is not acceptable, especially since we have not received any information for the past 27 months about the detainees in Imrali."

In order to end the isolation and lift the meeting ban imposed on detainees, Mezlûm Dînç called on the Committee against Torture to take a stand against the ongoing violations, and addressed it: "Do your work so that the severe torture that is happening in Imrali is put to an end."

T/ Satt.

ANHA