- A court in Istanbul has sentenced the famous cultural promoter Osman Kavala to life imprisonment.
- Judges found him guilty of attempted coup in connection with the 2013 Gezi mass protests against the Turkish government at the end of a widely criticized trial.
Kavala has been detained since November 2017. The courtroom immediately responded to the decision with boos and loud protests. The ruling is not yet legally binding.
According to the indictment, the allegations in the proceedings were a coup attempt in connection with the mass protests in Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013 and “political and military espionage” in connection with the attempted coup in 2016.
The case sparked sharp international criticism of Turkey. For this reason, the country is threatened with expulsion from the Council of Europe. The European Court of Human Rights had already ordered the human rights activist’s release in 2019 and classified the detention as politically motivated.
At the end of 2021, a diplomatic scandal erupted after ten ambassadors to Turkey wrote to demand Kavala’s release. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saw this as unacceptable interference and threatened the diplomats with expulsion.
In the past, Erdogan has publicly referred to Kavala as a supporter of the Gezi protests and a financier of terrorism. This was criticized by Kavala’s lawyers as an improper interference with ongoing court proceedings. The government defends itself against such allegations by pointing to the independence of the Turkish judiciary.
Caption:
Osman Kavala has always denied all allegations against him, calling them “conspiracy theories” and seeing himself as a victim of political exploitation by the government.
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The United States expressed deep concern about Kavala’s life sentence. “The unjust sentence against him goes against respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. We call once again on Turkey to release Osman Kavala,” the US State Department said on Monday.
The United States is deeply concerned about the ongoing judicial harassment in Turkey against leaders of civil society, the media, politics, and business.
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