Sixteen bar associations stress that life sentence effectively deprives prisoners of “hope for life,” and that the “right to hope” should be regulated in law on the execution of sentences.
In a joint statement issued after their meeting in Dersim, Turkey sixteen bar associations in Northern Kurdistan criticized the politicization of the judiciary, violations of the right to health of sick prisoners, and the incompatibility of life imprisonment with human dignity.
Following a meeting held in Dersim, Turkey on October 4, bar associations reminded the state of its obligation to protect the right to life, emphasizing that “the hope of every prisoner to regain their freedom must be protected.”
The final declaration stated that denying seriously ill prisoners and convicts access to medical treatment in prisons constitutes a violation of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. Bar associations called for independent medical reports to be taken as a basis in the process of postponing sentences and releasing prisoners.
The statement pointed out that life sentence effectively deprives prisoners of “hope for life,” and that the “right to hope” should be regulated in law on the execution of sentences.
Referring to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings in Vinter v. the United Kingdom and Kaytan v. Turkey, the bar associations stated, “Execution methods that completely eliminate the hope of regaining life and freedom are contrary to human dignity. Therefore, the protection of the right to hope, namely the possibility for every convicted person to rejoin society after a certain period of time, necessitates urgent legal amendments to the Law on the Execution of Sentences.”
The statement also emphasized that arbitrary decisions by administrative monitoring committees in political cases violate the right to liberty and security. Drawing attention to the politicization of the judiciary, the statement highlighted the urgency of operating the law as a system that is closed to political interference, predictable, and equally applicable.