İSTANBUL - Attorneys of the Asrın Law Office have not heard from PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and their other clients for the last 16 months. Attorneys have received no response to 271 applications filed since March 25, 2021.

 

PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan who is being held in İmralı  Type F High Security Prison for the last 23 years continue to be prevented from meeting with his attorneys and family members. No one has spoken to Öcalan after the meeting held with his lawyers on August 7 2019 and the interrupted phone call with his brother Mehmet Öcalan. 

 

FIRST PHONECALL AFTER 22 YEARS 

 

This phone call Öcalan made was a first in his 22-year detention. This meeting took place because of the allegations made on social media on March 14 regarding Öcalan's health and safety situation, causing public concern. While Öcalan and Hamili Yıldırım made the phone call which was their right that has been prevented for the last 22 years, Veysi Aktaş and Ömer Hayri Konar protested the isolation and refused to speak to their families on the phone. 

 

ÖCALAN: I WANT TO SPEAK TO MY ATTORNEYS

 

In the phonecall with his brother, Öcalan said: "What you are doing is so wrong. The state is playing its hand wrong and so do you. This is neither legal nor it is right. This is unacceptable and dangerous at the same time. Do you know what you are doing? I want my attorneys to come here and have a meeting with me. This is a legal situation. I have been here for the last 22 years. How will this situation turn our in the future? This can only be solved through law. Why can't they come here? If there will be a meeting, it must be with the lawyers. This is both political and a legal issue."

 

271 APPLICATION LEFT UNANSWERED IN THE LAST 16 MONTHS

 

Asrın Law Office lawyers who are representing Öcalan and the other prisoners in İmralı Prison, have not been able to meet with their clients for the last 16 months in any way. Lawyers continue to apply to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Directorate of Imrali Penitentiary Institution on behalf of themselves and their families every week for Öcalan and other detainees who have been in İmralı since the phone call. To date, lawyers have made 70 applications for family visits, and 201 applications for lawyer visits. However, no positive or negative response was given to any of these applications.

 

DISCIPLINARY PUNISHMENTS

 

Lawyers have applied for an "immediate meeting" with the Bursa Execution Judge for 16 months to have face-to-face meetings with theie families and their lawyers. However the İmralı Disciplinary Board Presidency suggested that they can't allow any visits because Öcalan and the other prisoners have disciplinary punishments. It was stated that the prisoners will be banned from having family visits for 3 months and lawyer visits for 6 months. The lawyers appealed to the Bursa Heavy Penal Court regarding the disciplinary punsihments given by the Disciplinary Board. The court rejected the objection of the lawyers on the grounds that "nothing contrary to the procedure and the law was observed" by the Court of Execution.

 

THE PENALTIES BROUGHT BEFORE THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT      

 

Attorneys brought the prevention of family visits before the Constitutional Court (AYM) due to the fact that the visits were banned with "unlawful" disciplinary penalties on May 12. In their application to the Constitutional Court, the attorneys drew attention to the "incommunicado" situation, which is the absolute state of non-communication, and demanded that not being informed is torture, that the right to respect for family and private life was violated as well as the right to a fair trial. The attorneys also stated that the right to an effective remedy are violated.

 

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTED THE APPLICATION

 

The Constitutional Court rejected the application of the attorneys and told that the prisoners have access to health care, that they had disciplinary punishment that prevents them from having family and lawyer visits, that there is no evidence of a threat to their material and nonmaterial integrity. 

 

775 LAWYERS TOOK ACTION

 

Because the attorneys of Öcalan and other prisoners are held in a complete incommunicado situation, 775 lawyers from 29 different bar associations including Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) started a petition to see the prisoners in İmralı. Lawyers applied to the Ministry of Justice with the signatures they collected on 10-17 June. However, the ministry has not yet responded to the lawyers' application.