Letter From Osman Kavala in 15th Month of His Arrest
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Human rights activist and businessperson Osman Kavala has sent a letter from the Silivri Prison in İstanbul, where he has been arrested for the last 15 months.
In his letter, Kavala underpinned that he has not been questioned by the Prosecutor's Office and his indictment has not been filed yet.
Here is the full text of Kavala's letter:
"At the end of January, I will have completed my 15th month in Silivri. I am still waiting for the indictment to be prepared. I have not been questioned by the prosecutor to this day. They have rejected our demands for release 19 times without feeling the necessity to listen to me. All these can be seen as a reflection of the belief that my arrest and its extension are 'reasonable' and 'proper'. The expressions that 'it was determined' that I 'financed and organized' the Gezi protests confirm this situation."
Ministry of Justice requested additional time from the ECtHR
"We applied to the Constitutional Court in my second month under arrest and to the ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights) in my eighth month under arrest. The ECtHR accepted our request that the case should be evaluated with priority and requested a defense from the Ministry of Justice. After the time expired on January 10, 2018, we learned that the Ministry of Justice got additional time from the ECtHR.
"In this period, me spending 15 months in Silivri awaiting an indictment can be conceived as an extrajudicial sentence. However, the request for additional time from the ECtHR makes me think that there are some hesitations about the appropriateness of the verdicts of the arrest and the extension of the arrest.
If the charges of 'changing the constitutional order" and 'overthrowing the government' directed at me are based on such clear and certain findings as it was stated in the press release of the Prosecutor's Office, I suppose the indictment would be prepared and a defense statement would be sent to the ECtHR."
Judicial Reform Strategy Document
"When The Minister of Justice was mentioning the 'unproportional interference against basic rights and freedoms can cause valid criticism and this kind of interference damages the legitimacy of the judicial decisions and the public support to the judiciary,' I think he has cases in mind similar to my arrest.
If the Judicial Reform Strategy Document, prepared by the Ministry of Justice and expected to be announced in the following days, underpins that respecting the presumption of innocence is of crucial importance by confirming that freedom is the most basic human right, I think it can pave way for the judicial decisions to be compliant to the Constitution and ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) norms.
Otherwise, allegations and arrests which are not based on strong reasons will continue to restrict the other people's individual rights and freedoms like me."
What happened?Anadolu Kültür Executive Board Chair, human rights advocate and businessperson Osman Kavala was taken into custody in the evening hours on October 18, 2017 at İstanbul Atatürk Airport upon his return from a meeting of a project planned to be realized in cooperation with Goethe Institute in Antep. He was targeted by some pro-government newspapers following his detention. Speaking at the weekly group meeting of his party, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to Kavala as the "Soros of Turkey", mentioning his name and said: "Some try to deflect the truth by means of praises attributed to him such as 'He was a good citizen, a media member, an NGO representative'. The identity of this figure called 'Soros of Turkey' has been uncovered. That was his name that came up in Consulate General [investigation]. All connections have surfaced. And there is the same person behind the incidents in Taksim. You see those people again behind funds transfer to certain places. Who are you trying to fool?" His detention also sparked criticism on international level. US thinker and professor in linguistics, Noam Chomsky, United States Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert and European Parliament Rapporteur for Turkey Kati Piri denounced Kavala's detention and demanded that he be released immediately. On October 31, a group of 35 academics, writers and researchers coming together under the guidance of the European Network on Political Group Analysis Jean-François Bayart, addressed an open letter to President Erdoğan for Kavala's release. Kavala was arrested November 1, 2017 and his indictment has still not been issued. On November 16, 2018, 13 academics and rights defenders were taken into custody as part of an operation, which is presumed to be related to the case of Osman Kavala. While 12 of the detained were released after making their depositions, Helsinki Citizens Assembly member Yiğit Aksakoğlu has still been arrested. About Osman KavalaKavala was born in Paris in 1957. He graduated from Department of Economy at Manchester University. He has been working as executive at Kavala Group since 1982. He participated in the foundation of Turkey's one of the most prominent publishing houses, İletişim Publications, with Murat Belge. He served as member of administrative boards of business institutions and NGOs such as Turkey-Poland Business Council, Turkey-Greece Business Council, and Center for Democracy in Southeast Europe. Kavala is a member of Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) Administrative Board, Open Society Institute Consulting Board, and supporter of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, History Foundation and Diyarbakır Culture House. |
(HK/VK)