Leader Abdullah Ocalan's lawyers demand that CPT go to Imrali

Lawyers of the Al-Asr Human Rights Office submitted a request to the Committee against Torture (CPT) to meet with each of their clients, Abdullah Ocalan, Omer Hayri Kunar, Hamili Yildirim, and Veysi Aktaş.

In their visit to the Committee against Torture, the lawyers mentioned the events that occurred between November 1, 2023 and January 21, 2024.

The lawyers asked the committee to provide them with data and information on issues such as systematic obstacles in communication, earthquakes, hunger strikes, and other events.

The lawyers stated in the request that the legal violation against Leader Abdullah Ocalan continues until now, and it was said that between November 1, 2023 and January 31, 2024, 26 visit requests were submitted by the leader’s lawyers and 13 requests were submitted by their clients’ families during 3 months, and all of these requests were accepted without a response.

The lawyers stated in their request that they had not received a single letter from their clients. They stated that the fate of the letters sent to Imrali over the course of 3 months was unclear, and they said that no progress had been made regarding the right to speak by phone.

The lawyers noted in the request that Leader Abdullah Ocalan met with lawyers only 5 times in 12 and a half years, and since 2014 he has met his family only 5 times, and since August 7, lawyers have not been allowed to meet with their clients, and in 2019, from March 3, 2020 onwards, they were prohibited. Also visiting the family. The lawyers in the application also said about their other clients, Omar Hayri Kunar, Hamili Yildirim, and Veysi Aktaş, who are also detained in Imrali, that: “Since the beginning of 2015, their clients have not been able to meet their lawyers, and in the past 7 years, Mr. Omar Hayri Kunar and Veysi Aktaş have met 3 times.” Only with their family. Mr. Hamili Yildirim met only twice with his family, and since visiting the families on March 3, 2020, no right to visit has been granted.

The lawyers explained in the submitted application that since September 14, 2018, meetings with family members and clients have been systematically obstructed, and that at least 18 “disciplinary penalties” are repeated every three months, and it states: “Recently, a three-month disciplinary penalty was issued, and Despite our objection, the duration of this disciplinary penalty expired on October 19, 2023, as a result of the objection being rejected by the Supreme Criminal Court in Bursa, and although the disciplinary penalty expired on January 19, 2024, the family’s requests were not responded to for 10 days. No meeting was held with the family members.” The lawyers stated in their request that all disciplinary penalties have no connection to the law and are political decisions.

The lawyers noted in their request that in addition to the ban imposed by the Bursa Public Prosecutor’s Office and the imprisonment of Imrali, their client’s meeting with his lawyer was also banned by the Bursa Criminal Court for a period of 6 months.

The lawyers confirmed in the submitted application that after the earthquakes occurred on February 6, 2023 in the city center of Maraş, they submitted a request to meet with the lawyers and family members on a daily basis from February 6 to February 17, and they confirmed that not even one of these submitted requests was responded to, and the lawyers stated that they They submitted a request to the Basic Constitutional Court, and said that submitting their requests is still ongoing. The lawyers explained that after the earthquake of December 4, 2023 in Kemlik, they submitted a request to know the conditions of their clients, but their request was met with no response.

The lawyers explained that the aforementioned earthquakes raised concerns among their clients’ families and democratic public opinion, and they said in this regard: “For this reason, it is necessary to take the necessary measures to confront the danger of the earthquake and tsunami waves on Imrali Island prison.

T/ Satt.

ANHA