Öcalan was held as the only inmate on the prison island of Imrali. He was tried before a military court on the island from May 31, 1999. The trial had six days of proceedings and he was sentenced to death on June 29. His appeal was rejected in November but the sentence was suspended while there was a review by the European Court of Human Rights. In September 2002 a Turkish court finally reduced his sentence to life imprisonment. The country had abandoned the death penalty in August 2002 as part of the process towards joining the European Union.