Judicial overseeing body to examine decisions about Osman Kavala's imprisonment

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In a letter with the "urgent" code, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) requested the court decisions about businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala's imprisonment from the İstanbul Justice Commission.

The HSK, the body overseeing the professional conduct of judges and prosecutors, made the request based on a provision of a principle decision about the promotion of judges and prosecutors.

The Principle Decision No. 657/1 stipulates that judges' efforts for the protection of the rights guaranteed by the ECHR and the Constitution and whether the ECtHR and the Constitutional Court found rights violations in their decisions are considered to decide whether they are competent to be promoted, said the HSK.

Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül said yesterday (November 12) that courts should abide by the Constitutional Court verdicts.

Having faced several charges, including an attempted overthrow of the government and military espionage, Kavala has been behind bars for more than three years, despite an ECtHR decision in December 2019 stating that he should be released immediately.

The HSK requested the following documents from the provincial justice commission: the decision of arrest by İstanbul 1st Penal Judgeship of Peace dated November 1, 2017, regarding the case at the İstanbul 30th Heavy Pena Court, the decision of the İstanbul 2nd Penal Judgeship of Peace, which had examined an appeal against the arrest, all decisions for the continuation of Kavala's arrest and decisions made after the examinations of appeals against his arrest, all indictments and hearing minutes.

HSK: It was a routine procedure

Lawyer Aslı Kazan was the first to publish the HSK's letter. "Osman Kavala was arrested unfairly. The HSK will take into account this unfair arrest in the promotion of the judges who made the arrest. So, why is Osman Kavala still arrested?" she wrote on Twitter.

After the publication of the letter led to rumors that Kavala might be released, the HSK issued a statement, saying that it was "a routine procedure carried out about every court."

Judges and prosecutors are examined for promotion every two years and what is taken into account is determined by Law No. 2802 on Judges and Prosecutors and regulations and principles decisions based on this law, the HSK explained.

The criteria about the ECtHR and Constitutional Court decisions were added to the principle decision on December 4, 2019, by the HSK General Assembly as part of judicial reforms, it said.

The application of this principle decision began in April 2020 and accordingly, all decisions given by the ECtHR were requested from the relevant places of jurisdiction, said the HSK, adding that the 2nd Chamber of the HSK, which makes the decisions about the promotion of judges and prosecutors, evaluate them.

The document discussed on social media was not specific to one case but the result of general and routine work, it concluded.

Osman Kavala's trial

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 the 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.

Announcing its ruling on Kavala 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. While this ruling has not yet been put into effect, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe made a call to Turkey about the final ruling of the ECtHR and urged Turkey to implement the ECtHR's ruling of right violation and to release him.

(AS/VK)