Constitutional Court rejects the application of jailed PKK leader Öcalan’s lawyers

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Representing jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş as their defense attorneys, the Asrın Law Office applied to the Constitutional Court with a request for injunction as the lawyers had been unable to meet or hear from their clients held in İmralı Prison for months.

The Constitutional Court rejected the application on January 12, 2022 and the ruling was notified to the lawyers on January 31.

The Asrın Law Office made the application to the top court on December 24, 2021 and raised a request for injunction on the grounds that they had been unable to meet or hear from their clients, who are held in severe isolation conditions in İmralı Prison, for 10 months.

As reported by Ferhat Çelik from Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the top court has rejected the application by indicating that "when the information in the application file and the information and documents sent to the Constitutional Court by the penal institution are considered together, it is understood that they [prisoners] have the opportunity to access healthcare services, restrictions have been imposed on their visitations with their visitors and lawyers and there is no information or finding suggesting that there has emerged a serious danger to their lives or to their material or immaterial integrity due to being held in the penal institution..."

Accordingly, the Constitutional Court has concluded that "for the aforementioned reasons, there is no ground for sending the application to the relevant department as per the Article 73/2 of the Bylaw."

Application to Constitutional Court

In their application to the top court, the lawyers of Öcalan referred to the phone call on March 25 as the last contact with him and said, "Despite the nine months that have passed since then, it has not been possible to obtain information about the conditions of the clients."

The lawyers said that in addition to an absence of physical contact with their clients, they had not been allowed to communicate with them by phone or letter. Recalling that an application had also been made to the Judgeship of Execution for this reason, they stressed that the disciplinary punishment was cited as the reason for the prevention of family visitations and the 6-month restriction on visitation was cited on the part of lawyers.

"An appeal was lodged against this unlawful decision and a copy of the files was requested; however, these requests were also rejected on the grounds of security," noted the lawyers further.

Applying to the Constitutional Court, the lawyers referred to Article 17 of the Constitution prohibiting torture against the background of severe isolation in İmralı Prison and requested an injunction as per the Article 73 of the Bylaw so that their clients could meet their families and lawyers.

In their application to the top court, the lawyers specifically referred to the advanced age and health conditions of the prisoners as well as the state of constant isolation as a threat to their mental and physical integrity. "The lack of inspection mechanisms and effective remedies increase the risk situation," the lawyers underlined further. (EMK/SD)