ISTANBUL - Lawyers from the Asrın Law Office have made a new application for a meeting with their client Abdullah Öcalan, whom they have not heard from for 43 months. 

 

The lawyers of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held in isolation in İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison for more than 25 years and has not been heard from for 42 months, have made a new application to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and İmralı Penal Execution Institution Directorate requesting a meeting with their client. 

 

The applications were made by Asrın Law Office lawyers İbrahim Bilmez, Rezan Sarıca, Raziye Öztürk, Mazlum Dinç and Faik Özgür. The lawyers also applied for meetings for their other clients in İmralı, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş.

 

OBSTACLE TO MEETINGS

 

While most of the applications made by the lawyers for Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş are not responded to, the meetings are prevented by the Bursa Execution Judgeship with “ban on lawyer visits” orders in 6-month periods on the grounds of “disciplinary penalties”. 

 

UNINTERRUPTED VISIT BAN DECISION

 

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

 

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