The Turkish human rights activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala He was sentenced to life in prison in the trial where he was accused of having “tried to overthrow the government” for his support of the anti-government protests at Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013. The judges of the Caglayan court in Istanbul said this. Kavala has been in custody for over 4 years in the Silivri prison in Istanbul.
Turkey, the court confirms the detention of Osman Kavala
The philanthropist was acquitted of “spying” in connection with an alleged role in the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016. Sentenced to 18 years in prison, again for having “tried to overthrow the government” by participating in the 2013 anti-government protests , all the other seven defendants who were arrested at the end of the hearing amid the shouts of protest from the audience present in the courtroom.
On 10 December, the same court rejected the appeal presented by the lawyers of Kavala, who asked for the release of the philanthropist, in compliance with a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. The Court, based in Strasbourg on 2 December last, had in turn initiated an infringement procedure against Turkey, after Ankara had not respected the release order issued by the same Court for a year.
The “Kavala affair” risked creating an international crisis when the Turkish philanthropist received the support of ambassadors from the United States, France, Germany, Holland, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand who had launched an appeal joint to enforce the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights which declared the “illegitimacy” of the detention measure.
President Erdogan’s response to the appeal was a “persona non grata” statement addressed to diplomats, which sounded like a possible antechamber of a probable expulsion. The crisis only subsided after ambassadors pledged that they did not want to interfere in Turkey’s internal affairs.