Asrin Hukuk Burosu (Century's Legal Bureau) Inonu Caddesi, Dumen Sokak, Dumen Apt # 3, Kat # 4, D: 12 Gumussuyu, Istanbul

tel. 011.90.212.292.9551 fax. 011.90.312.249.6206

Mr. Zakine The President Committee for the Prevention of Torture

Istanbul, 23 April 1999

Re: Urgent request for repeated CPT visits to Mr. A. Ocalan, Imrali Island Prison, Turkey

We, the lawyers undersigned, represent Mr. Ocalan, who is detained in Imrali Island Prison. We only had the opportunity to meet him twelve (12) times and eleven (11) hours altogether. The frequency and conditions of the meetings with the defendant are contravening both Turkish and International law. We can only meet twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays). Each meeting is limited to one (1) hour. Similarly, out of his relatives only his brother Mehmet Ocalan and his sisters Havva Keser and Fatma Ocalan have obtained a singular permission for a visit that was limited to half an hour (1/2) each, two of which took place on the same day. Four nephews' applications have been turned down.

We feel the necessity to inform you about breaches of law that we have observed in the course of our visits.

1. Mr. Ocalan is completely isolated from the outside world contravening both to Turkish domestic law and international safeguards that Turkey is signatory to. He is held under solitary confinement as the only person on Imrali Island. For most of the day he is alone without seeing anybody apart from situations of physical needs. He is permanently kept under surveillance by officers through a window in his cell. According to his own claims he is only allowed to open air for forty (40) minutes per day into a yard of 40 square meters surrounded by high walls.

2. So far, he is not been given any newspaper, magazine, book, radio or TV. Not even the books that were brought to him to prepare his defense were allowed in. The only source of information about the developments in the outside world that Mr. Ocalan has access to are the verbal reports that we his lawyers transmit to him within the confinements of the short meetings.

3. Turkish media has brought the news on 9 April 1999 that Mr. Ocalan had suffered a heart attack and a narcotic trauma. However, it is known that Mr. Ocalan did not even smoke cigarettes until the day of his arrest. These press news add to our concern that he is given addictive drugs against his will. (See Appendix 1)

4. During our last visit on 22 April 1999 we saw that Mr. Ocalan was in a state of big exhaustion. He answered to our insistently repeated questions about his health that he suffered from palpitations of his heart due to duress.

5. Furthermore, in all our meetings our conversations have been observed by one or two [masked security personnel whose presence prevented us from asking some questions we would like to ask]. Likewise, we observe that our client finds it difficult to give us information about some points. We have not collected detailed information about his health situation.

6. We have observed that he has excessively lost weight (about 15 kg according to our estimation). It is obvious that he is under duress and stress.

7. During the last visit on 22 April our client has informed us that he is exposed to two medical check-ups per day, which gives rise to the suspicion that there is a serious problem about or client's health. He also explained that several psychiatrist experts from Istanbul were going to Imrali regularly has been confirmed to us by sources which do not want to be disclosed. It is most likely that the psychiatrists' efforts are being backed by drugs.

8. As he himself pointed out in our meetings, the solitary confinement seriously harms the client's physical and mental health. This measure is applied with the intention to break his will-power. If this measure continues it will not be possible for him to prepare his defense according to his own free will.

As the lawyers of Mr. Ocalan, we highly appreciate the work of the CPT on the issue of the conditions of detention of our client who himself has expressed his gratitude on the visit of the CPT and reiterated his wish that the CPT visit him again. As a matter of fact, the pressure on our client has alleviated a bit in the period immediately after the visit of the CPT, only to increase again at a later point. The officers observing our client for example ceased to wear snow masks on their faces, however, are still observing our visits. Not less do we lawyers feel that the threat against our security decreases proportionally to the increase in intervention of international human rights bodies.

It is a fact that we have positively observed a serious deterioration in the health condition of Mr. Ocalan and that he himself has for the first time pointed out that he does suffer from a heart problem that renders so much urgency to our appeal to you. Against this background, the media reports on a heart attack that were neither confirmed by our observations nor by the client's statements must be interpreted as an attempt to prepare the public opinion in Turkey for a possible death of Mr. Ocalan in prison. You must be aware that especially the media in question does not seldom lance items that are prompted to them by government officers.

Therefore, we kindly request the CPT to visit our client Mr. Abdullah Ocalan regularly during his detention in the Imrali Island Prison.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours Sincerely,

Lawyer Niyazi BULGAN Lawyer Ahmet Zeki OKCUOGLU Lawyer Irfan DUNDAR