TO THE PRESS AND PUBLIC
In the prison for foreigners in Maltepe, the law has been abrogated.
British citizen, Stephan Shah Kaczynski is kept in Maltepe L Type Prison
No.3, which is well-known as a prison for foreigners for already 4
months now. To demand the end to the unlawful actions of the prison
authorities against him, he continues a hungerstrike for 12 days (note:
today 15.07.2015 the hunger strike already reached 21 days).
The prison authorities of the Maltepe L Type Prison No. 3 not only
ignore the demands of Shah Kaczynski, they continue to violate the law
with its actions.
During his 4 months in prison, the prison administration didn’t hand out
any newspapers, books and magazines to Shah Kaczynski. As Shah Kaczynski
made several requests and talked to the prison authorities without any
result, he went on a hunger strike.
Our colleagues from the prison observatory commission and the head of the
Lawyer’s Union CHD in Istanbul visited Shah Kaczynski on Friday, 3rd
July, where they also talked with the prison administration about these
circumstances.
In that conversation Shah Kaczynski told our colleagues, that he didn’t
receive any newspaper or magazine since his arrest, that also the books,
which were deposited by the lawyers were all confiscated by the prison
administration and not given to him. Further he told them, that he went
on hunger strike after several unsuccessful conversations and
applications to end these measures.
Shah Kaczynski is 52 years old and continues his hunger strike since
June 25, 2015. Since his arrest he has to remain in solitary
confinement. Any visit is denied to him. He is only permitted 2 hours a
day to walk in the yard. He is in a cell, in which usually only
prisoners with a cell punishment are transferred. In this sense, a law
enforcement model is implemented at Shah Kaczynski, which is only
applied to prisoners with aggravated life sentence.
On the other hand, Shah Kaczynski wanted to send a fax to his lawyers a
few days ago. But this was rejected by the prison authorities and not
forwarded. Shah Kaczynski explained that he was also visited on July 2,
2015 by the prison director and prompted to end the hunger strike,
otherwise they would intervene by force.
Our colleagues also spoke with the prison administration after visiting
Shah Kaczynski. During the meeting the warden said he would necessarily
maintain the state’s authority in this prison, magazines with
state-critical content would not be given to the prisoner. He said that
they would therefore also not hand over magazines and books to Shah
Kaczynski, which criticize the government and have communist content.
Further he told our colleagues, they could ‘take legal action’ if they
want.
Overall, our fellow association members have found, that the law in
Maltepe prison for foreigners has been abrogated and almost any measure
towards the prisoners are arbitrary. On the other hand, the hostility
as well as the ignorance of law by the warden indicates that it might
come to numerous negative incidents in Maltepe prison for foreigners in
the future.
The present attitude of the local prison authorities against Stephan
Shah Kaczynski, who is forced to hunger strike in order to receive
newspapers and magazines, is unacceptable.
The absolutely understandable and legitimate demands of Stephan Shah
Kaczynski should be recognized as soon as possible.
In this sense, the prison warden and the prison authorities of the
Maltepe prison for foreigners will bear responsibility for any possible
negative health consequences of Stephan Shah Kaczynski.
We, the Istanbul Department of the Progressive Lawyers Association
hereby inform the public that we will continue to monitor the situation
of Stephan Shah Kaczynski and current violations of law in Maltepe
prison for foreigners.
Yours faithfully
07/04/2015
Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği
İstanbul Subesi
Progressive Lawyers Association
Istanbul Department