ISTANBUL - Lawyers of Asrin Law Office have applied to the chief public prosecutor's office and the prison directorate for a meeting with their client PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

 

The lawyers of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is being held in İmralı F Type High Security Closed Prison under heavy isolation conditions, made a new application. The applications were made by Asrin Law Office lawyers Cengiz Yürekli, Emran Emekçi, İbrahim Bilmez and Suzan Akipa. The lawyers applied to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Directorate of İmralı Penal Execution Institution and also applied for meetings with Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş, their other clients in İmralı.

 

Interviews are being blocked

 

Most of the applications made by lawyers for Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş are not responded. In the responses given by Bursa Execution Judgeship, lawyer visits are banned in 6-month periods on the grounds of ‘disciplinary penalties’.

 

Systematic bans

 

In July 2016, during the State of Emergency (SoE), the ban on lawyer visits continued until February 2018. After this date, lawyer visit requests started to be banned for 6-month periods. The last 6-month ban on lawyer visits to Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners in İmralı was issued by Bursa Execution Judgeship on 3 May 2024.

 

With the latest ban decision, Abdullah Öcalan has been banned from seeing his lawyer for 6 months at least 13 times in 8 years.