European Court: Turkey violated prisoners’ right to freedom of expression

The European Court of Human Rights acknowledged a violation of prisoners' right to freedom of expression following complaints filed by several inmates over the banning of Abdullah Ocalan’s books and a number of newspapers and magazines inside prisons.

According to Mesopotamia News Agency, the prisoners had submitted requests to the court due to the prevention of access to Abdullah Ocalan’s books, including The Democratic Nation, Manifesto of the Kurdistan Revolution, and Democratic Modernity, as well as several newspapers such as Yeni Yaşam, Atilim, Kızıl Bayrak, and Yüksel.

The European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling confirming the violation of prisoners’ right to freedom of expression in the case of Aktaş and Others vs. Turkey. This came after several inmates filed complaints about being denied access to books, newspapers, and magazines inside Turkish prisons.

The Court’s Second Grand Chamber, in its decision dated September 2, stated that Turkish authorities arbitrarily prevented many intellectual and cultural materials from reaching prisoners, which the Court considered a clear breach of their rights.

Veysi Aktaş, recently released from the high-security İmralı prison, filed a complaint in 2016 about being denied Abdullah Ocalan’s book The Democratic Nation and the magazine Democratic Modernity, on the grounds that they allegedly promoted the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Similarly, Turan Gönana, detained in Kocaeli F-type prison, filed a complaint in 2018 after being denied Ocalan’s book Manifesto of the Kurdistan Revolution and several issues of the newspaper Yeni Yaşam.

Complaints continued in subsequent years from other prisoners, including Ramazan İlter, Engin Gökoglu, Barış İnan, and İbrahim Bektaş, who were denied access to various books such as Fî and Çî by author Azra Kohen, newspapers like Kızıl Bayrak, Yüksel, and Atilim, as well as literary works such as Tales of the Terrifying Four Seasons, Ripple on the Water, and Three Religions and Three Gods.

The Court affirmed in its ruling that the restrictions imposed were neither justified nor necessary in a democratic society, considering that denying prisoners access to these materials constitutes a clear violation of the article concerning freedom of expression in the European Convention on Human Rights.

ANHA