ANKARA – Civil society organisations reacting to the systematic pressure on prisoners in Sincan Wome’'s Closed Prison have stressed that disciplinary penalties are not legal but form of ideological pressure and demanded an end to the prevention of the right to release on probation . 

 

The decisions of the Administration and Observation Board in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison were protested with a statement. Freedom for Lawyers Association (ÖHD) member lawyer Sidal Bayrak read the text of the statement, which was attended by many legal organisations and trade unions. 

 

Stating that 12 political women held in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison were arbitrarily denied their right to release on probation , Sidal Bayrak emphasised that the standards of democracy and law in Turkey are measured by the grounds for imprisonment, the law applied in prison and the applicability of the right to remain free. 

 

She stated that the current execution regime violates these measures every day and noted that the example of this practice is the Administration and Observation Boards established in 2021. Sidal Bayrak said that hundreds of prisoners, including seriously ill prisoners and prisoners who have been in prison for more than 30 years, were prevented from being released. 

 

Pointing out that the Boards are political, she emphasised that these boards essentially function as a punishment and torture mechanism against political prisoners and said that these boards prolong the detention period of political prisoners. 

 

"The committees prevent the parole of political prisoners whose parole date has come, based on their political identities and the 'offence' they are charged with. Since January 2021, no female prisoner in Sincan Women's Prison has been released on parole. Until today, the parole rights of 24 women prisoners have been openly usurped. The burning of the execution of every political female prisoner without exception makes Sincan Women's Closed Prison one of the most striking and systematic examples of unlawfulness in this field," Sidal Bayrak said. 

 

Sidal Bayrak stated that the systematic practice in Sincan Women's Closed Prison has become too generalised and continuous to be explained only by individual administrative evaluations. Pointing out that the practice of burning women political prisoners to death is not only a legal but also an ideological form of oppression, Sidal Bayrak emphasised that the political identities and organised stances of women prisoners are systematically punished on arbitrary grounds such as "failure to comply" or "failure to express remorse". 

 

Sidal Bayrak stated that the structure and functioning of the Administrative and Observation Boards should be reorganised in a democratic, transparent and auditable manner and that all political prisoners, especially those who are due for release on probation , should be released as soon as possible and added: "This is a necessary consequence of the peace and democratic society process". 

 

Emphasising that the prevention of the right to release on probation should be ended, Sidal Bayrak listed the following demands on the issue:

 

“* The practices of preventing release on probation must be immediately terminated, and the arbitrary and unlawful decisions of the administration and observation boards against all political prisoners must be cancelled. 

 

* The right to parole should be applied equally in accordance with universal legal principles, and the imposition of remorse and ideological evaluations should be ended. 

 

* The structure and functioning of the Administrative and Observation Boards must be reorganised in a democratic, transparent and auditable manner; decision-making processes must be closed to arbitrariness, board members must be determined on the basis of independence and impartiality.

 

* Discriminatory and sexist practices against women prisoners in prisons must be stopped, the special pressure mechanisms that political women prisoners are subjected to must be exposed and ended. 

 

*In line with the society's demand for peace, justice and democratic solution, public awareness should be raised against the oppressive policies carried out in prisons and these policies should be brought to account.”