A Turkish court on Friday revoked an additional warrant issued for Osman Kavala, a jailed Turkish businessman and philanthropist, on allegations related to a 2016 coup attempt, the T24 news website reported.
Kavala has been in custody for more than three years, first charged with attempting to overthrow the government by organizing and funding the nationwide Gezi protests against then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2013.
In February he was cleared of those charges when a judge said there was “not enough concrete evidence” to support them, but he was rearrested same day on coup-related charges.
On March 10 another court issued a new warrant on espionage charges, due to which Kavala was not freed despite the previous court ruling and remains in pretrial detention.
“It is extremely upsetting and worrisome to see that the intention to continue my detention at all costs has led the members of the judiciary to violate the law,” Kavala said in a statement after the second warrant.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) said in December that there was insufficient evidence to support the accusation that Kavala had been involved in the failed coup.
President Erdoğan has called Kavala an agent of US financier George Soros, whose efforts to promote democracy around the world have made him a target for several authoritarian leaders.