International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Cologne
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com
Cologne, 11 November 2002
Press Release:
Abdullah Ocalan: For 4 weeks no admission
for his lawyers
Ocalan lawyers call on Council of Europe and Amnesty International
for intervention because of aggravated conditions of detention
On November 7, 2002 six of Mr. Ocalans lawyers from the Asrin
law firm in Istanbul sent a letter to the European Councils
anti-torture committee (CPT) and to Amnesty International after
having been denied access to their client for more than four weeks.
We document excerpts of this letter in English translation.
Mr. Ocalan is the sole prisoner on the island of Imrali which
has been declared a military area with a radius of five seamiles.
Legally, the island is administrated by the so-called Crisis Management
Group, a unit which is meant to deal with natural desasters, wars
or the likes.
It is endowed with extraordinary powers and not subjected to judicial
control. Its legal status and the conditions of its administration
make this prison a quite controversial facility.
It is not only for necessary security measures that Mr. Ocalan
has been imprisoned on Imrali. There are several reasons why the
Turkish government prefers this facility. The island can easily
be isolated from the outer world, lawyers and family can be prevented
from visiting by giving rather incredulous reasons, and conditions
of police detention and the negative situation effected by them
can be maintained permanently.
Officially, the Imrali prison is under control of the Ministry
of Justice of Turkey, the island however is a military area. Therefore
access is controlled by military officers endowed with special powers.
Any inbound or outbound documents are controlled by the military
and need their permission in order to be delivered to our client.
In this severe isolation Mr. Ocalan can keep in touch with the
outer world only with the help and the visits of his lawyers and
his family (first grade) for one hour per week excepting Wednesdays.
The island can only be reached by a very primitive transport contraption
named Imrali-9, which can carry 10 people altogether. It takes up
to three hours to get to the island and even only slightly bad weather
makes the crossing impossible. Generally, transit with this boat
means your life is endangered. Now and then the authorities claim
that the crossing was impossible because of damage to the boats
engine. No alternative is offered, however.
Only Mr. Ocalans lawyers and first grade relatives can get
first hand information. In spite of the ongoing proceedings before
the Ankara criminal court, the European Court of Human Rights and
the Athens criminal court to completely prevent our talking with
the client which is limited in time anyway under the
pretext of bad weather conditions. Therefore we cannot discuss legal
developments with our client and thus his defence is hampered in
effect. [
]
His family can only visit him once a month because of age, health
and the great distance to Imrali (700 miles). In conjunction with
the difficulties mentioned Mr. Ocalans chances to receive
visitors are notedly limited.
Daily press is provided by us. It is limited in selection (Hürriyet,
Milliyet, Sabah) and number (8 10 per week). There are also
limitations for books and other publications.
He is only allowed two hours in the prison yard a day ( one hour
in the morning, one in the afternoon) compared with the other F-type
prisons (high security sections) where this is allowed all day.
Mr. Ocalan cannot participate in any social or sports activities.
He has applied several times for a TV-set which has always been
denied. He can only receive the national radio station TRT. There
have been thousands of letters for him, of which he was only handed
those few that mange to pass the thorough examination. [
]
The recent report of the anti-torture committee (CPT) following
two visits to Imrali describes the space of the prison yard
as 4.5 meters wide and 4 meters high and with a lattice on top.
The report requests an improvement of the conditions. So far there
has never been a response to such requests. This situation already
lasts for three years and eight months and poses an acute risk for
the physical and mental health of Mr. Ocalan. Meanwhile the CPT
published its reports since the Turkish government did nothing to
improve the situation.
We as lawyers of Mr. Ocalan have also filed several applications
to loosen the severe conditions and to achieve a more dignified
and acceptable situation. Neither the Turkish Ministry of Justice
nor the Head Office for the Correctional Facilities nor the public
prosecutors office in Bursa which is responsible have as yet
responded to these applications.
Since August 3, 2002 the death penalty has been abolished in Turkey
in the framework of the EU- adaptation laws und Mr. Ocalans
death penalty was converted into a life sentence in the scope of
which also his situation should have been improved. Obviously though,
his conditions have even been tightened. There is no legal justification
for that. The isolation and the prison conditions Mr. Ocalan has
been subjected to for 4 years were rotted in the system of capital
punishment. These conditions are still maintained unabatedly. [
]
During the past six weeks we have only been able to see our client
for one hour. His family couldnt see him at all. The CPT reports
state that the isolation and the prison conditions are in violation
of both the Turkish law and articles 3,5,6,8 and 10 of the European
Convention for Human Rights. We are deeply concerned, therefore,
for the life and health of Mr. Ocalan because of these arbitrary
and discriminating prison conditions.
The CPT makes it clear that his isolation poses a serious threat
for the mental and physical well-being of Mr. Ocalan.
In view of the fact that the preceding visits by the CPT that we
expressly welcomed did have a positive effect on the government,
we now request the CPT to visit Mr. Ocalan regularly during the
time of his imprisonment and to give its observations and recommendations
as to his prison conditions in publicly available reports.
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