ISTANBUL - Lawyers of Asrın Law Office have applied to the Attorney General's Office and the prison directorate for a meeting with their client Abdullah Öcalan.

 

The lawyers of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is being held under severe isolation conditions in İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison, made a new application. 

 

Asrın Law Office lawyers İbrahim Bilmez, Cengiz Yürekli, Suzan Akipa and Emran Emekçi applied to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and İmralı Prison Directorate. The lawyers also applied for meetings for their other clients Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş.

 

Özgür Faik Erol, one of the lawyers of Asrın Law Office, took part in the meeting with Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş in İmralı on 27 February. Lawyers Rezan Sarıca and Newroz Uysal Aslan last visited İmralı on 7 August 2019 and had a meeting with Abdullah Öcalan.

 

OBSTACLE TO THE MEETINGS

 

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".

 

AT LEAST 15 BANS ON LAWYER VISITS IN 8 YEARS

 

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 8 November 2024. Lawyers were not informed about the reason for the ban.

 

With the latest ban, Abdullah Öcalan has been banned from seeing his lawyer at least 15 times in the last 8 years.