ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 40 272. Mr Güven said that there may not be records of any visits to himself or other PKK members in prison by the applicants because those lawyers could have given any remand prisoner's name and entered the prison, thereby seeing Mr Güven or his associates. 273. He confirmed his confrontation with certain lawyers during their interrogations. Most of them were co-operative. Only Tahir Elçi and Meral Daniş Beştaş objected to certain statements. Neither party was blindfolded during the confrontation. Two officers were always present. His signature on the confrontation report only confirmed the accuracy of what he alone had said. 274. Mr Güven denied a statement in which he had purportedly confessed to carrying weapons which were subsequently used to kill two police officers prior to his apprehension in 1989. He later conceded that he may just have forgotten the details. He acknowledged his involvement in a plan to kill a prison officer while he was still a PKK associate remanded in custody. He also acknowledged that some of his statements about being tortured during interrogation to make him sign incriminating statements had been lies. 275. Prior to becoming a confessor, he had expected to serve some 8 years in prison (a 15 year sentence with early release), rather than receiving the death sentence or life imprisonment for his role in the death of the police officers. He denied that, in order to avoid dangerous repercussions from the PKK when he became a confessor, he had given the names of persons who had had no connection whatsoever with the PKK. In no way did the advantages of the Remorse Law lead him to accuse the applicants. However, after the life sentence was imposed on him, his confessor statements permitted his release from custody. Since then he had been a target for the PKK, although he acknowledged that he had been able to move around freely in Diyarbakır. He had changed his identity and was initially provided with a little financial assistance by the gendarmerie, from Commander Eşref Hatipoğlu. He knew that, if he gave false testimony as a confessor, an additional 5 year term of imprisonment could be added to his original sentence. 276. Mr Güven denied being encouraged by any officials to denounce the applicants, or the Human Rights Association, or to become a confessor. He left the PKK because their original aims, in which he had believed, had been undermined, and they were inflicting damage on the Kurdish people. 277. Mr Güven said that the lawyers' confessions had been recorded on videotape. His confrontations with them had lasted a whole day from 8 or 9 a.m. until night-time, a few days after the lawyers had been apprehended. His own legal representative, F.V., had suggested the applicants' names to him as being people who were “patriots and could join the struggle”. It was PKK established policy that its members should systematically refute any