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"If the Constitutional Court gives a ruling of violation tomorrow, this ruling should be put into effect immediately. The examination of the court will be about his arrest. The rights violations in his arrest will be examined. I think that there are indeed violations of rights in his arrest. Something that cannot be experienced in a state of law occured here.
"After examining the application, if the court concludes that there is violation of rights, it will mean the release of Kavala. This ruling is about the prestige of Constitutional Court. The court should give its judgement by considering its own prestige and without feeling any fear. It is what needs to happen."
The above remarks have been uttered by lawyer Turgut Kazan after it has been announced that the Constitutional Court will examine the application of Anadolu Kültür Executive Board Chair, businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala in its meeting tomorrow (May 22).
Facing aggravated life imprisonment, Kavala has been charged with organizing the Gezi Park protests in 2013. Kavala has been arrested in Silivri Prison in İstanbul since November 1, 2017.
As reported by Gökçer Tahincioğlu from T24 news website, the rapporteur examining the case file of Osman Kavala to determine whether there is "false imprisonment" has detected a "violation of rights" and expressed opinion in favor of the elimination of the violation in question.
His application not put into agenda for two years
Osman Kavala made an individual application to the Constitutional Court on January 29, 2017, alleging that "the measure of arrest is not lawful, the access to the investigation file has been restricted, the review of his arrest was conducted without appearing before the judge/court." However, the court has not put his application into its agenda for two years.
In the event that the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court rules in its meeting tomorrow that the rights of Osman Kavala have been violated by his arrest, Kavala could be released from prison.
What happened?In raids conducted on November 16, 2018, Prof. Dr. Betül Tanbay, Prof. Dr. Turgut Turhanlı, Anadolu Kültür's Deputy Board Chair Yiğit Ekmekçi, Board Member Ali Hakan Altınay, General Coordinator Asena Günal, film producers Çiğdem Mater and Meltem Aslan, civil society employees Yiğit Aksakoğlu, Filiz Telek, Bora Sarı, Yusuf Cıvır, Ayşegül Güzel, Hande Özhabeş were detained. Hande Özhabeş, Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı, Asena Günal ile Bora Sarı and Meltem Aslan were released at night after testimonies. Prof. Dr. Betül Tanbay, Yiğit Ekmekçi, Hakan Altınay, Yusuf Cıvır, Ayşegül Güzel and Çiğdem Mater were released on November 17. Yiğit Aksakoğlu, who was doing civil society studies at the Bilgi University, was arrested. Anadolu Kültür Board Chair Osman Kavala was arrested without an indictment November 1, 2017 and March 4, 2019. An 657-page bill of indictment was completed on February 20 and sent to 30th Heavy Penal Court. The indictment charges all the 16 defendants with "attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey or preventing it from performing its duties" upon the Turkish Penal Code Article 312/2. The other charges are, damage to property, qualified form of damage to property, Holding or handing over dangerous material, damaging places of worship and cemeteries, violation of the Law No. 6136 on Firearms and Knives Qualified looting (Turkish Penal Code Article 149), qualified bodily injury (Turkish Penal code Article 86), violation of the Law No. 2836 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property. The 16 defendants are alleged to be the "head executives" of the Gezi Park protests are Osman Kavala, Yiğit Aksakoğlu, Ali Hakan Altınay, Mücella Yapıcı, Ayşe Pınar Alabora, Can Dündar, Çiğdem Mater, Gökçe Yılmaz, Handan Meltem Arıkan, Hanzade Hikmet Germiyanoğlu, İnanç Ekmekçi, Mehmet Ali Alabora, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, and Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi. The bill of indictment was accepted by the court on March 4. The first hearing will be held on June 24. While Osman Kavala's application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has not been concluded, Yiğit Aksakoğlu's attorneys appealed to the Constitutional Court. |
(EMK/SD)
