Thomas Schmidt, Co-Secretary General of the European Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH), told ANF that Turkey had provided sufficient grounds for initiating violation proceedings, and added that the Council of Europe and its institutions should use the opportunities provided by laws and international agreements against Turkey.

More than 1,500 lawyers and legal institutions around the world signed a letter sent to the Turkish Ministry of Justice on 16 September regarding the situation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan. The letter drew attention to the fact that Öcalan, as well as the other prisoners in Imrali, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş have not been allowed to meet with their lawyers, which is against the law. Schmidt is among the signatories.

Öcalan has been held in Imrali F Type High Security Prison since 1999, and no news has been received from him for 43 months.

The letter requested a visit to Imrali and that Abdullah Öcalan could meet with his lawyers.

Schmidt said that the meetings with lawyers were unlawfully prevented, and underlined that "Abdullah Öcalan has not been allowed to see his lawyers since 7 August 2019. Veysi Aktaş, Hamili Yıldırım and Ömer Hayri Konar have not been allowed to see their lawyers since 2015, when they were transferred to Imrali Island."

Special and discriminatory isolation

Schmidt said that the situation in Imrali Prison has been described by lawyers worldwide as a special and discriminatory form of isolation. He pointed to the CPT’s warning on this issue and said: "Therefore, it is clear that solitary confinement alone is potentially problematic in terms of the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This situation has also been confirmed by the former UN special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer."

Violation of all rules and laws

Schmidt underlined that the Mandela Rules, updated in 2015, define solitary confinement as "the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more per day without meaningful human contact" and that this is the minimum standard of the UN rules. Noting that solitary confinement can only be applied in exceptional cases and that "long-term" solitary confinement lasting more than 15 consecutive days is considered a form of torture, Thomas Schmidt continued as follows: "The ban on lawyer visits to Imrali Prison clearly violates the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), the recommendations of the CPT and Turkey’s Execution Law (Law No. 5275). States are obliged to ensure that detainees and convicts can exercise their rights regardless of their identities and the nature of the sentence they receive. This is also a violation of the rights and privileges of lawyers as set out in the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, in particular Basic Principles 8 and 16."

European institutions must act against Turkey

Schimdt said that the legal demands voiced in the ongoing "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Political Solution to the Kurdish Question" international campaign must now be met, and added: "The Council of Europe, member states and the CPT in particular must use the opportunities provided to them by law and international agreements. Turkey provides sufficient grounds for initiating infringement proceedings. The issue is not only the lawyers’ right to meet with Mr. Öcalan. This is also about the criminalization of the peaceful political movements of the Kurdish people in Turkey. This is about the right of the entire population of Turkey to peacefully end this conflict. The fact that Mr. Öcalan could play an important role has been proven by the peace talks that were later interrupted by the Turkish government."