VAN - Van Bar Association, ÖHD and TUHAY-DER Prisons Commission announced the report they prepared on Black Sea prisons. In the report, it was pointed out that all the rights of the prisoners were violated by the administration.
The Van Bar Association, the Lawyers' Association for Freedom (ÖHD) Van Branch and the Prison Commissions of the Association for Assistance with the Families of Prisoners and Convicts (TUHAY-DER) announced the report they prepared on the Black Sea prisons at a press conference at the Van Bar Association building.
Human Rights Association (İHD) Van Branch lawyers, Bar Association President Sinan Özaraz and TUHAY-DER executives participated in the statement. Mehmet Fettah Keleş, one of the ÖHD lawyers, who read the text of the explanation regarding the prison report, said that the report was prepared at the request of the prisoners and their families.
Keleş shared that they visited Bafra Type T, Samsun Kavak Type S, Kavak Juvenile Closed Prison, Rize Kalkandere Type L, Bayburt Type M, Giresun Espiye Type L and Beşikdüzü Type T Closed Prisons in the Black Sea upon request. He said that the report was prepared with the information obtained from the phone calls made with their families and the letters and faxes sent by the prisoners to their lawyers.
Explaining the violations in the Prisons in the report and stating that there are the same violations on every prisons, Keleş said, “It was determined that the prisoners requested a patient referral from the doctor in the prison infirmary, that the gendarmes were searched for the patient during their transfer to the hospital, that the prisoners who did not accept the application were not taken to the hospital, and that there were ill prisoners who were not taken to the hospital for 2 years. Again, there are seriously ill prisoners in the prison, only drugs are prescribed in the prison infirmary, and the prescribed drugs arrive late, the release of the prisoners is arbitrarily prevented by the observation boards, 'repentance' is imposed on the 30-year-old prisoners, whose sentence has expired, and the right of conditional release and probation is not exercised. We were informed that the confidentiality of client interviews was violated, the books of the prisoners were not confiscated by the administration, the search for the ward was increased and the searches were out of scope. We have been informed that opposition newspapers, books and TV channels are blocked, canteen prices are exorbitant, letters in Kurdish are not given, a stripped search is imposed to prisoners at the prison entrance, only judicial prisoners enjoy the right to video calls, high electricity bills are cut, social activities are limited, and communications between different wards are cut off.”
In the conclusion part of the report, it was stated that the violations of rights should be terminated as soon as possible, taking into account the principles of legal and international law, and an immediate investigation should be initiated against the persons responsible for the violations.