81 associations, trade unionists, and academics from Spain have signed the letter, penned by Peace in Kurdistan, to Dr Alan Mitchell, President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The letter calls on the CPT to send a delegation immediately to meet with Abdullah Öcalan, and to encourage Turkey to comply with their obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and allow visits from his family and lawyers. The signatures are listed below.
Every week the need for CPT intervention becomes only more urgent. On 3 May, the lawyers for Öcalan and the three other prisoners in İmralı island prison were informed of a new six-month ban on lawyer visits for their clients. No reason was given for the decision. These renewed arbitrary bans have been going on for six years, and similar restrictions are imposed on his family. Apart from a brief period after the mass hunger strike in 2019, Öcalan’s lawyers have been prevented from visiting him since 2011.
Öcalan has now had no contact with anyone outside the prison since a brief phone call with his brother on 25 March 2021, The only exception to this is the CPT’s visit in September 2022, of which nothing has been made public. The CPT’s rules do not allow them to publish their reports without permission from the state concerned – in this case Turkey – but they do have the possibility of making a public statement when their advice has not been taken. Ocalan’s lawyers asked the CPT to invoke Article 10/2 and make a statement concerning the conditions in İmralı, but they have not done so. When the CPT visited Turkey in February, they did not take the opportunity to go to İmralı.
The Spanish signatures are listed below:
Organisations
*Agrupación Icaria Acontracorriente, Federación Anarquista Ibérica, Sevilla
*ARRAN, Barcelona
*Asamblea Antiespecista de Madrid
*Asamblea de Vivienda de Collado Villalba, Madrid
*Asociación Libre de la Abogacía, Madrid
*Apoyo Mutuo Aragón
*Asociación Cultural “Roberto el Pirata”, Castro Urdiales, Cantabria
*Asociación Intersindical Solidaria, País Valencià
*Asociación Reciproka Subteno, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
*Ateneo Popular “Los Otros”, Burgos
*Colectivo de colombianos as Refugiados en Asturias “Luciano Romero Molina”
*Colectivo Guadauca, Badajoz
*Colectivo Vallekas Obrera, Madrid
*Colectivo Yretiemble!, Madrid
*Comisión Legal de Sol-15M, Madrid
*Comité de Solidaridad con América Latina de Asturias (COSAL), Asturias
*Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe (CSCA)
*Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT Confederal
*Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT Aragón y La Rioja
*Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT Sindicato Único de Burgos
*Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG), Galiza
*Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT Teruel, Aragón
*Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT Colmenar Viejo, Madrid
*Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT Comarcal Sur, Madrid
*CSOA Orbeko Etxea de Laudio, Euskal Herria
*Ecoloxistes n’Aición d’Asturies
*Fundación de los Comunes (red de colectivos nivel estatal)
*Intersindical Asturiana
*Intersindical – Confederación Sindical Catalana, Catalunya
*Confederacion Intersindical
*Komite Internazionalistak, Euskal Herria
*Kurdistan Solidarity Network, United Kingdom
*Kurdistanekin Elkartasuna Ekimena, Euskal Herria
*La Comuna d’Asturies, de la Coordinadora Estatal de Apoyo a la Querella Argentina contra el franquismo (CEAQUA)
*Los Verdes- Equo Asturies
*Lumaltik Herriak, Bilbao, Bizkaia, País Vasco
*Madres contra la Represión, Madrid
*Organización Sindical de Trabajadores de Aragón, OSTA, Aragón
*Plataforma por la Defensa de la Salud y la Sanidad Publica Asturiana
*Revista “Viento Sur”
*Rojava Azadi Madrid
*Soldepaz- Pachakuti, colectivo internacionalista de Asturies
*Tercera Información, Madrid
*Women Defend Rojava, Murcia
*Zabaldi Elkartasunaren Etxea / La Casa de la Solidaridad, Iruñea/Pamplona, Navarra
Representatives of organisations
*Beatriu Cardona i Prats, Intersindical Valenciana, València, País Valencià
*Carmen Arnáiz, Secretaria de Acción Social, Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT
*Chabier Alegre Abril, Apoyo Mutuo Aragón y CNT, Teruel
*David Lázaro, Secretario General de OSTA Aragon
*José Raúl Rojas Andrés, Tercera Información, Madrid
*Manel Novo i Canyelles, Intersindical-CSC, Catalunya
*Néstor Cerezo Morquillas, Secretariado Permanente, Sindicato Único de Burgos CGT
*Isabel González, Confederacion Intersindical
*Olga Belenguer de Echave, Secretaria General de CGT Aragón-la Rioja
*Pablo Martín Carbajo, Colectivo Guadauca, Badajoz
*Paulo Carril Vázquez, Secretario General de Confederación Intersindical Galega, CIG, Galizia
*Pedro Lobera, Relaciones Internacionales de la Organización Sindical de Trabajadores de Aragón, 11 OSTA, Aragón
*Ricardo Hoyos Brage, Asamblea de Vivienda de Collado Villalba, Madrid
*Vicent Maurí Genovés, Presidente de la Asociación Intersindical Solidaria, País Valencià
Individuals
*Adrián Almazán Gómez, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Araba
*Begoña Landa Calvo, Castrillón, Asturias
*Benjamín Jiménez de la Hoz, Madrid
*Daniel García, Madrid
*Emilio Nevado Guerra, Castrillón, Asturias
*Estela Mateo Regueiro, Doctora en Filosofía, Mahón, Menorca
*Francisco José Marcellan Español, Catedrático Emérito de Matemática Aplicada, Universidad
Carlos III, Madrid
*Javier Rodríguez Martín, Valladolid
*Juan Villasante Claramonte Sedaví, Valencia
*Maria Antònia Oliver Rotger, Barcelona
*Maria Letizia Episcopo, Pisa, Italy
*Marta Fernández García, Oviedo-Asturias
*Nelly Bocchi, Fidenza, Italy
*Nicoletta Manuzzato, periodista, Italy
*Nuria Pomposo Rodríguez, Soto de la Marina, Cantabria, Spain
*Pablo Nacarino Hernández, Spain
*Ricardo Hoyos Brage, Collado Mediano, Madrid
*Rubén de la Peña Martínez, Burgos
*Teresa Cortés Jurado, Parla, Madrid
*Tiziano del Cotto, Villasanta MB, Italy
*Yanira Hermida Martín, Historiadora, La Orotava, Canarias
*José Miguel Sanemeterio