ISOLATION AND INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION CONTINUE IN İMRALI F-TYPE HIGH-SECURITY PRISON
27 March 2024
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) announced in a press release on 23 February 2024 that it carried out an ad hoc visit to Türkiye from 13 to 22 February 2024. The CPT stated that the main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in high-security prisons and included the names of the prisons visited. It also stated that, although İmralı F-Type High-Security Prison was not among the prisons visited, the situation of prisoners currently held in İmralı Type F High-Security Prison was raised during discussions with the relevant authorities on the occasion of the visit, in particular as regards their contact with the outside world.
We would like to take this opportunity to once again share our views on İmralı F-Type High-Security Prison with the public.
On 12 January 2024, shortly before the above-mentioned visit, ÇHD, İHD, ÖHD, HRFT, TOHAV, CISST, Batman Bar Association, Diyarbakır Bar Association, Hakkari Bar Association, Mardin Bar Association, Muş Bar Association, Şanlıurfa Bar Association, Şırnak Bar Association and Van Bar Association had sent a letter to the CPT regarding the violations faced by Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş, incarcerated in İmralı F-Type High-Security Prison, as regards their visitation rights with their families and lawyer conferences for many years, in total violation of human rights law.
In our letter, we stated that a special and discriminatory form of isolation/incommunicado detention, which causes serious harm to the physical and mental integrity of people in prisons, was being maintained in İmralı Prison; that the requests of lawyers to confer with their client Abdullah Öcalan have been denied since 7 August 2019; their clients Veysi Aktaş, Hamili Yıldırım and Ömer Hayri Konar have not been able to confer with their lawyers even once since 2015 when they were transferred to İmralı Prison; the last face-to-face meeting with the families was held on 3 March 2020 and the last phone call was made on 25 March 2021.
Since 1999, the CPT has made 11 separate visits to İmralı Prison, the last of which took place on 21-29 September 2022. The CPT has presented comprehensive findings on the aggravated isolation/incommunicado detention in its publicly released visit reports of various years, and has repeatedly reiterated its recommendations and suggestions for improving the situation. For instance, the CPT’s report published on 5 August 2020 on its visit to Türkiye on 6-7 May 2019, which is the last report made public on the subject, points to a number of violations underlining the following: “CPT urges the Turkish authorities to take the necessary steps to ensure that all prisoners in Imrali Prison are effectively able, if they so wish, to receive visits from their relatives and lawyers. To this end, an end should be put to the practice of imposing a ban on family visits for ‘disciplinary’ reasons. Further, the Committee requests the Turkish authorities to provide –on a monthly basis– an account of the visits which all prisoners held at Imrali Prison have received from their family members and lawyers” (para. 51).[1]
Despite these and similar clear and unambiguous statements in almost all of the CPT’s reports made public, the relevant authorities have not complied with the recommendations made to date.
Moreover, beyond such recommendations of the CPT, Articles 43/3 and 41/5 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), which were updated in 2015, clearly state that family and lawyer visits cannot be prevented, even on the grounds of disciplinary sanctions, which are frequently put forward.
In our letter to the CPT, we, as legal and human rights organizations, stated that we expected the CPT to contribute to the solution of the problem as a requirement of its mandate and responsibilities arising from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment due to the aggravation of incommunicado detention in İmralı Prison and the lack of any change in conditions. Yet, Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş, who are incarcerated in İmralı F-Type High-Security Prison, have been subjected to a situation, primarily not being able to meet with their families and lawyers and being cut off from contact with the outside world, for nearly 3 years and this continues with all the severe effects and consequences it has caused.
In short, as the undersigned human rights and legal organizations, we would like to share with the public the need for immediate steps to be taken to resolve this unacceptable problem in terms of universal legal norms and human rights values and principles, and state that we will monitor this process.
SIGNATORIES
BATMAN BAR ASSOCIATION
CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE PENAL SYSTEM ASSOCIATION (CISST)
DİYARBAKIR BAR ASSOCIATION
FOUNDATION FOR SOCIETY AND LEGAL STUDIES (TOHAV)
HAKKARİ BAR ASSOCIATION
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION (İHD)
HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION OF TURKEY (HRFT)
LAWYERS FOR FREEDOM ASSOCIATION (ÖHD)
MARDİN BAR ASSOCIATION
MUŞ BAR ASSOCIATION
PROGRESSIVE LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (ÇHD)
ŞIRNAK BAR ASSOCIATION
URFA BAR ASSOCIATION
VAN BAR ASSOCIATION