PEOPLE’S LAW BUREAU – INTERNATIONAL OFFICE
Address: Kabani 10-Agiou Meletiou/Acharnon, 11252-Athens
iplo.hhbe@gmail.com facebook.com/peopleslawofficeinternational
31.05.2024
REVOLUTIONARY PRISONER NURETTİN KAYA is on the 225th day of his death fast against the aggravated isolation torture in S and Y TYPE (WELL TYPE) PRISONS. Time is running against him and his health condition is rapidly deteriorating.
NURETTİN KAYA’S DEMANDS MUST BE ACCEPTED, INHUMAN, DEGRADING AND UNLAWFUL S and Y TYPE PRISONS MUST BE CLOSED, EXPULSIONS MUST END!
REVOLUTIONARY PRISONER NURETTİN KAYA HAS BEEN ON DEATH FAST SINCE 20 OCTOBER 2023 WITH THE DEMAND TO END THE ISOLATION TORTURE IN S AND Y TYPE PRISONS AND TO STOP FORCIBLE PRISON TRANSFERS!
LET’S LISTEN TO NURETTİN KAYA’S VOICE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! LET’S FIGHT TOGETHER TO END THE TORTURE OF ISOLATION!
The isolation policy, which has been applied to political prisoners in prisons in our country and in the world for many years, is the isolation of the human being, who is a social being, not only physically but also socially, that is, emotionally and intellectually, by severing all kinds of ties with the outside world, with loved ones, friends and comrades. The aim of this is to isolate political prisoners from their thoughts and beliefs, to turn them into “individuals” without identity, without personality, without organisation.
In our country, there has been a death fast resistance against the isolation policy embodied in F-type prisons, which is a cell-type prison model for many years, which resulted in the death of 122 people and the disability of hundreds of people – because they were subjected to forced feeding torture during their death fast – and lasted for 7 years. A part of this resistance is the death fast resistance of the people’s lawyer Behiç Aşçı, which started on 5 April 2006 and lasted for 293 years, demanding an end to the torture of isolation against our clients.
With the effect of this resistance, in which lawyer Behiç Aşçı put his life on the line for his clients, a significant gain was achieved in this struggle with the circular on the right to chat, which was issued by the Ministry of Justice on 22 January 2007 and which opened an important breach in the isolation policy, the nature and purpose of which we have summarised above, and the torture of isolation was alleviated to some extent.
However, in the intervening time, the insistence of the political power, AKP fascism, on the isolation policy continued. As a result of this insistence, high security prisons called Y and S type prisons were brought to the agenda.
So what are these S and Y Type Prisons? Why do revolutionary prisoners, especially Nurettin Kaya, who is on the 224th day of his death fast resistance as of today, oppose these prisons, why do they choose to resist by risking death once again?
S and Y type prisons are basically similar to F type prisons in terms of architecture, but have an architectural structure that aggravates isolation even more. In these prisons, unlike F-type prisons, there are fewer cells for three people and more cells for one person. In other words, these prisons are solitary confinement prisons. These prisons are designed in such a way that prisoners cannot see each other, even the sky and the sun, and cannot hear each other.
In other words, it is as if prisoners are locked in a cage or imprisoned at the bottom of a dark well. Cells and corridors are equipped with cameras and audio communication systems. Unlike the F-types, a voice warning-command system has been developed to minimise communication between prisoners and the administration, even with guards or other administrative personnel.
In other words, an isolation system has been developed in which prisoners cannot hear any other human voice, even if it is the voice of a guard, and cannot see any other human face, even if it is the face of a guard. The aim here, as in F-type prisons, is to force political prisoners to change their thoughts by subjecting them to severe isolation.
Political prisoners in these prisons are kept under the conditions of execution applied to aggravated life imprisonment convicts, regardless of the nature and amount of the sentence they have received, even without any distinction between detainees and prisoners, and are subjected to severe isolation torture by being completely isolated from the outside world and human beings and benefiting from the right to ventilation for only 1-1.5 hours a day. In other words, the practice of “solitary confinement”, which is used as a means of punishment/rehabilitation in the execution systems of Turkey and many other countries in the world and is limited to certain periods of time, is perpetuated in these prisons. Long-term solitary confinement is recognised as a “violation of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment” in international law. For this reason, the S and Y-type execution model is a method of torture and is in violation of international law.
In short, S and Y Type prisons mean aggravated isolation torture, inhumane conditions, silent extermination. For this reason, S and Y Type prisons are prisons that violate human rights, that is, the law, as well as human dignity.
Our client Nurettin Kaya, who is currently being held in Bolu F Type High Security Prison, started a death fast on 20 October 2023 against this torture, this inhumane execution model, this silent extermination policy, demanding “the closure of S and Y type prisons, and stopping the forced transfer of political prisoners to these prisons” while being held in Dumlu High Security (Y TYPE) Prison.
Our client Nurettin Kaya, who was transferred to Bolu F Type Prison while continuing his resistance, continues his death fast with the demand that his cell mates in Dumlu prison be transferred to a normal prison in addition to his previous demands. As of today, the health condition of Nurettin Kaya, who is on the 225th day of his death fast, is rapidly deteriorating, and the health problems he is experiencing are increasing day by day. Nurettin Kaya, who weighed over 80 kg when he started his death fast, has dropped below 40 kg as of 15 May 2024 and the wounds in his mouth have gone down to his throat. In other words, there is now a life risk for Nurettin Kaya.
For this reason, we call on all our colleagues and rights defenders to support the just, legitimate and acceptable demands of our client and to fight together against the inhumane S and Y type prisons.
PEOPLE’S LAW OFFICE-INTERNATIONAL BUREAU
