Justice minister rules out release for PKK leader despite ECHR ruling

ANKARA

'Turkey will not change its system of law enforcement,' Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ told reporters March 18 over a ruling from ECHR. AA photo

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has ruled out the possibility of Abdullah Öcalan benefiting from conditional release on March 18, hours after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Turkey partly violated the European Convention on Human Rights, following a complaint by the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“This decision does not require a new regulation. Turkey will not change its system of law enforcement,” Bozdağ told reporters in Ankara.

“Öcalan was sentenced to life, so he cannot benefit from conditional release,” the minister said.

The court had called for Ankara to create mechanisms to allow the possibility of conditional release for prisoners with “aggravated” life sentences, or even to abolish life sentences completely.