Committee for Prevention of Torture Visits İmralı Prison

A delegation of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) initiated an examination of the conditions of detention in the F-type prison on the island of İmralı in the Sea of Marmara. Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the illegal Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been imprisoned on the island since 1999. Another five convicts were brought to the prison two months ago.

CPT President Mauro Palma is one member of the delegation that came to the island on Tuesday (26 January) to examine the newly built F-type prison.

The delegation talked to Öcalan and the other convicts, namely Şeyhmuz Poyraz, Cumali Karsu, Hakkı Alkan, Hasbi Aydemir and Bayram Kaymaz and returned to Bursa on the south-eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara in the evening by helicopter. The observation was continued on the following day. The delegation was joined by Nizamettin Kalaman, General Director of Prisons and Detention Houses in the Justice Ministry.

Öcalan was transferred to the new building in November 2009. He had informed his lawyers about the deterioration of his health situation. He told them that he was not able to breathe properly and that he had been transferred to a smaller cell. These announcements caused protest actions in several provinces. Hereupon, the Ministry of Justice published pictures of the new prison and stated that conditions of detention had not worsened. Öcalan's lawyers claimed that the photographs might be misleading and said that their client's complains should be considered. Later on, Öcalan had told his attorneys that two additional windows had been built in his cell.

The new prison was designed according to the recommendations mentioned in a previous report of the CPT.

The government had declined the request to examine the conditions of detention in the new prison. The request had been submitted by the three human rights organizations of Turkey, namely the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUMDER) and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV). The issue was not brought to the agenda of the parliamentary Commission for the Investigation of Human Rights. (TK/VK)

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