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-knnow 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 colleages 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