Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe: Implement ECtHR ruling on Kavala

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The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has made a call to Turkey about the final ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on arrested businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala.

The Committee of Ministers has called on Turkey to implement the ECtHR's ruling of right violation and to release Osman Kavala.

CLICK - ECtHR Ruling on Osman Kavala is Now Final

Detained on October 18, 2017, Osman Kavala was arrested on November 1, 2017. Announcing its ruling on him on December 10, 2019, the ECtHR concluded that his rights were violated by his imprisonment.

The ECtHR concluded that the European Convention on Human Rights was violated on the grounds that Kavala was arrested without any reasonable suspicion and with political motives and that the Constitutional Court did not examine his application within a reasonable period of time.

This ruling became final on May 12, 2020.

'Same violations are in place in the new investigation'

In the decision taken by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, a reference has been made to the ECtHR ruling which concluded that Kavala was arrested without reasonable suspicion.

The Committee of Ministers has also indicated that even though the ECtHR ruling does not cover the arrest of Kavala as part of another investigation following his acquittal, there are still strong convictions that the same violations detected by the ECtHR are still in place in the new investigation.

The related ruling of the ECtHR noted that while the Constitutional Court should have concluded Kavala's case in the shortest time possible, it failed to do so. The Committee has underlined that the Court should hand down a ruling of release for Osman Kavala as soon as possible.

On this occasion, the authorities have been reminded that the elimination of the violations identified by the ECtHR will reinforce judicial independence.

The ECtHR concluded that the European Convention on Human Rights was violated on the grounds that Kavala was arrested without any reasonable suspicion and with political motives and that the Constitutional Court did not examine his application within a reasonable period of time.

The Court concluded that the Articles 5/1 and 5/4 and Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been violated and ruled that Kavala should be released from prison immediately. The verdict emphasized that the arrest of Kavala was a right violation.

About Osman Kavala

Businessperson Osman Kavala, who was on his way back from Antep, was taken into custody at İstanbul Atatürk Airport on October 18, 2017.

On November 1, 2017, it was announced that Kavala was arrested on charges of "attempting to change the Constitutional order and to overthrow the government." In the official document referring him to court with a request of arrest, it was alleged that he was the head and financier of Gezi.

The sixth and final hearing of the lawsuit filed into Gezi resistance was held at the İstanbul 30th Heavy Penal Court in Silivri on February 18, 2020.

Announcing its ruling after the statements of defendants and their attorneys, the court board has ruled that Osman Kavala, Mücella Yapıcı, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, Ali Hakan Altınay, Yiğit Aksakoğlu, Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, Çiğdem Mater Utku and Mine Özerden shall be acquitted as "there was no concrete and material evidence as to the committal of the offenses charged." The court has also ruled that businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala, the only arrested defendant of the case, shall be released.

Osman Kavala was the only arrested defendant in 16-defendant Gezi Trial, which started on June 24, 2019. Having been acquitted in this trial, Kavala was arrested again, this time on charge of "political or military espionage." Kavala is still held in Silivri Prison in İstanbul. (AS/SD)