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European torture delegation meets captured Kurdish leader

   ANKARA, March 2 (AFP) - Members of a European panel against 
torture on Tuesday met Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan on the
prison island where he has been held since his capture last month.
   The 11-member delegation from the Council of Europe's committee 
against torture flew to the island of Imrali, in northwestern
Turkey, on a helicopter and left the island for an undisclosed
location after a nearly eight-hour visit, the Anatolia news agency
said.
   The delegation, which included three experts, has been in Turkey 
since Saturday on a visit connected with Ocalan's capture and has
previously visited the police force in Istanbul.
   The team was the first international delegation to be given 
access to Ocalan after his forced return to Turkey and his
subsequent jailing on Imrali.
   Last week, Turkey blocked a visit to Ankara by the Council of 
Europe's parliamentary assembly president, Lord Russell-Johnston, to
discuss Ocalan's trial.
   Ankara rejected requests for international observers to attend 
the rebel leader's upcoming trial, arguing that the presence of
observers would mean "interfence in its independent judiciary."
   "All foreigners who do not call themselves observers can attend 
trials in Turkey," the deputy speaker of the Turkish parliament,
Uluc Gurkan, said Tuesday.
   "However, some European states seem to be in an attempt to turn 
Ocalan's trial into a circus. Turkey is not a colonial state and has
its own laws," he added.
   Ocalan, who heads the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was 
allowed to meet two of his lawyers last Thursday after he was
formally arrested at the end of a two-day interrogation.
   However, the lawyers said in a press conference afterwards that 
their meeting with their client lasted only 20 minutes, during which
a judge and two masked soldiers were also present in the room.
   A spokesman for the committee against torture last week said the 
panel would closely monitor the case of Ocalan, who is expected to
be tried by Turkey on treason charges in connection with the PKK's
armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule.
   If convicted, Ocalan could face the death penalty. Turkey has 
not carried out a judicial execution since 1984.
   Ankara promised a "fair" trial for Ocalan, but Kurdish and human  
rights groups expressed concern that this would not happen in
Turkey, which has been criticized for its human rights record.
   Another point of concern was Ocalan's expected trial at a state 
security court, described by the European Court of Human Rights as
"not independent and impartial" due to the presence of a military
prosecutor and judge.
   The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, is a forum of 
European states promoting democracy, education, culture and sport.
   Under the European Convention against Torture, the Council's 
committee against torture can visit jails and places of detention in
member countries who have ratified the agreement.
    

 

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