Sounds of protests fill Edirne Prison amid limitations on meeting lawyers, families

Duvar English 

Jailed former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has slammed the limitations imposed on family and lawyer visitations, saying that sounds of protests have been filling the prison for the past 20 days. 

According to Demirtaş, the limitations that began with the pandemic are continuing. 

"The Justice Ministry is trying to make use of the crisis and turn the limitations into a permanent seizure of rights," Demirtaş, who has been imprisoned for five years, said in a tweet on Nov. 1. 

"I'm writing these to draw attention to the conditions of other inmates. Sounds of protests have been filling Edirne Prison in the past 20 days, don't you hear them?" he asked. 

Since the start of the pandemic, human rights groups have been pointing to the rights violations in prisons. The limitations on lawyer and family visitations are among them, with the COVID-19 measures having turned into a tool to punish inmates. 

In a series of tweets, Demirtaş also asked opposition politicians whether they would consider visiting prisons to draw attention to the grave conditions in the facilities. 

"Would the opposition leaders who carry out various visits consider visiting prisons that house 300,000 inmates? You'll be in charge of prisons when you gain power," he said. 

"It would be useful for you to see the conditions of prisons now. I have already seen enough," Demirtaş noted.