'Did CPT delegation meet PKK leader Öcalan in prison?'

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A delegation from the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) might not have met Abdullah Öcalan during a September prison visit, according to Öcalan's lawyers.

The CPT neither confirmed nor denied the allegations that Öcalan had refused to meet the delegation, the Asrın Law Office said yesterday (November 29).

The leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been held in a high-security prison on İmralı Island since February 1999.

The last time Öcalan's family members visited him was in March 2020. He hasn't been able to meet his lawyers since August 2019.

His last in-person meeting with one of the three other prisoners on the island took place in March 2020.

The law office said the CPT officials had avoided answering questions regarding Öcalan's situation at an October 13 meeting with the lawyers.
"They only said they would prepare a report on their visit and that they could share this report with the public with Türkiye's approval.

"Our clients, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş, objected to the isolation they were subjected to, and boycotted the phone call, and did not attend the meeting.

"Öcalan's phone call with his brother was interrupted and ended. After this problematic connection, access to confirmed information was impossible." (AS/WM/VK)