EU: We call on Turkey to release Osman Kavala

* Photo: Kerem Uzel / Nar Photos

Click to read the article in Turkish

European Union (EU) Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Nabila Massralı has released a written statement about the continued imprisonment of businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala.

CLICK - Osman Kavala not released

In her statement released on the website of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy department of the EU, Massralı has called on Turkey to "to follow-up on the Council of Europe's recommendations and implement the afore-mentioned judgement and release Osman Kavala as a matter of urgency."

The full statement of the Spokesperson is as follows:

"The European Court of Human Rights had concluded, more than a year ago, that Osman Kavala's arrest and pre-trial detention took place in the absence of evidence to support a reasonable suspicion he had committed an offence and pursued an ulterior purpose, namely to silence him and dissuade other human rights defenders.

"The decision last Friday of a Court in Istanbul to maintain in prison Osman Kavala, despite the unequivocal final ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, runs against Turkey's stated commitment to the rule of law and the respect of fundamental rights, including the presumption of innocence.

"As underlined by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, the Turkish authorities have not been able to dispel the strong suspicion that Mr Kavala's ongoing detention and the initiation of a new investigation represent a continued violation of the legally binding judgement of the European Court of Human Rights of 10 December 2019.

"We therefore call on the Turkish judiciary to follow-up on the Council of Europe's recommendations and implement the afore-mentioned judgement and release Osman Kavala as a matter of urgency.

"As a candidate country and long-standing member of the Council of Europe, Turkey urgently needs to make concrete and sustained progress in the respect of fundamental rights, which are a cornerstone of EU-Turkey relations."

What happened?

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.

On the other side, the Constitutional Court added Kavala's file to its agenda on September 29, 2020; however, it then postponed the session where the individual application of Osman Kavala would be discussed.

On the same day, it was announced that the indictment lodged by İstanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Hasan Yılmaz was presented to the İstanbul 36th Heavy Penal Court and accepted by the court.

The new indictment prepared against Osman Kavala charged him with "obtaining state information that needs to remain confidential for political and military espionage purposes" and "attempting to overthrow Constitutional order." The indictment also alleged that Prof. Henri Barkey, an academic and a former US diplomat, "plotted" the July 2016 coup attempt.

The first hearing of this trial was held on December 18 and the local court ruled for the continued imprisonment of Osman Kavala in its interim ruling.

(HA/SD)