DİYARBAKIR - Underlining that with the 4th judicial package the prisoners will experience a deeper isolation, Attorney Aslıhan Bulut said that it will be even harder to recieve letters or be visited by relatives.
A suit of rescission was filed against the "Regulation on Observation and Classification Centers and the Evaluation of Convicts" that entered into force on January 1 after being published on the Official Gazete, which will lead to the revocation of parole dates of the prisoners. It was underlined that the regulation is in violation of the Constitution, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and international conventions, while AKP MPs submitted a new proposed another offer to the parliament. With the regulation, the letters and faxes of the prisoners will be recorded as well as their conversation with their visiters.
Aslıhan Bulut, one of the lawyers of the Diyarbakır Branch of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), who evaluated the bill submitted to the Parliament, said that the letters sent or received by the prisoner are read by the Prison Letter Commission and the new regulations will cause a deeper isolation.
Stating that there is already a commission that reads the letters sent to the prisoners, Attorney Bulut said: "Bringing such a regulation to the Parliament leaves question marks in our minds. The weekly phone calls of the detainees are tapped and recorded by the prison administration. If an element of crime is detected in these conversations, an investigation process is initiated. While the current conditions are like this, we think that the aim of the new fourth judicial package is not only to record the letters and thoughts of political prisoners, but also to isolate the detainees completely, to keep the detainees physically in prison, as well as to isolate their thoughts. The reason why political prisoners are in prison is because of their thoughts. With this regulation, it is aimed to keep the thoughts of the detainees in prison as well.”
MA / Cengiz Özbasar