AMED – In the 3-month violation report prepared by Amed (Diyarbakır) Bar Association, OHD and TUAY-DER on prisons, many problems such as postponement of execution and violation of the right to health were pointed out and it was stated that “The isolation on Abdullah Öcalan should be unconditionally lifted; dialogue and negotiation channels for peace and democratic solution should be opened urgently.”
Amed Bar Association, Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) Amed Branch and Amed Association of Families of Prisoners and Convicts (TUAY-DER) announced the 3-month prison rights violations report covering June-July-August. A statement on the report covering Amed, Xarpêt (Elazığ), Erzingan (Erzincan) and Erzirom (Erzurum) prisons was made at Amed Bar Association.
Reading the report, Rihan Gök, member of Amed Bar Association Prison Monitoring Commission, stated that the systematic oppression and isolation policies in prisons are a direct attack on the hopes for social peace.
Rihan Gök stated that practices aimed at suppressing democracy and peace poison not only individuals but also the fabric of society. Stating that prisons are places of torture, Rihan Gök drew attention to the fact that systematic violations of rights continue to take place in prisons.
She listed the violations as follows: "Usurpation of the right to health, arbitrary execution burnings, imposition of strip searches, sexist violence against women prisoners, prevention of correspondence in Kurdish, prevention of letters sent to Leader Abdullah Öcalan, interrogations by the administration and observation board aiming to deny political identity."
CALL
Emphasising that it is imperative to take urgent and concrete steps to establish a transparent and accountable execution system in accordance with both domestic law and international obligations, Rihan Gök made the following calls:
"* The isolation on Mr. Abdullah Öcalan should be unconditionally lifted; dialogue and negotiation channels for peace and democratic solution should be opened urgently.
* Systematic torture, ill-treatment and isolation practices in prisons must be ended immediately.
* Arbitrary and ideological interrogations carried out by the execution burning and observation board must be abolished; the right to conditional release must be guaranteed in accordance with international law and universal principles of justice.
* Freedom of communication and expression in all mother tongues, including Kurdish, must be recognised; arbitrary bans on letters and publications must be lifted immediately.
* Sexist, discriminatory and body policies towards prisoners must be ended; an egalitarian and rights-based approach must be taken as basis.
* Seriously ill prisoners must be released immediately; the right to health must not be left to the arbitrariness of the prison administration under any circumstances."
Taking the floor afterwards, Abdulkadir Güleç, President of the Amed Bar Association, stated that the violations in prisons in such a period break the belief of the people and make them hopeless, and emphasised that the rights of prisoners must be ensured.
REPORT
In the report prepared with more than 40 visits to 20 prisons; many violations of cargo and basic needs, social rights, transfer procedures and property rights, health and transfer demands, communication rights, social rights, nutrition rights, freedom of expression were listed. It was also stated that strip searches and mouth searches continue. It is also stated in the report that in some prisons prisoners are subjected to arbitrary disciplinary penalties, and that the Administrative and Observation Boards burned the execution of prisoners who refused to accept the "remorse" imposition.
In the rest of the report, findings on various violations and recommendations for their solution are listed.