A Turkish court ordered businessman Osman Kavala to remain in prison Monday amid fresh calls for his release in a high-profile case that has drawn widespread rebuke, Agence France-Presse reported.
The 64-year-old philanthropist has been held without conviction since October 2017, accused of financing 2013 anti-government protests and playing a role in a coup plot against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has called for Kavala’s release, which Turkey has refused to comply with.
This month, the Council of Europe (COE) launched disciplinary action over Turkey’s failure to free him.
A three-judge panel on Monday refused to release Kavala and set the next hearing for March 21.
Kavala did not appear in court, and his lawyers questioned the tribunal’s impartiality.
“Kavala is not being tried in this tribunal, but in political party meetings,” defense lawyer Tolga Aytöre told the court.
Western diplomats, including from France and Germany, attended the hearing on Monday, according to an AFP reporter.
The COE ruled this month that Turkey had failed to comply with a 2019 ruling by the ECtHR to release Kavala.
Under the rules of the Strasbourg-based COE, the case has been referred back to the ECtHR, which will determine if Turkey has complied with its 2019 ruling.
Turkey has been a member of the COE since 1950 and is party to the European Convention on Human Rights.
It denounced the COE’s decision as “interference” in domestic court proceedings.
The COE’s verdict could prompt action against Ankara from the committee of ministers, including suspension of Turkey’s voting rights or even expulsion from the body.
Ahead of the hearing on Monday, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur slammed Ankara for its apparent refusal to comply with the ruling.
“It’s not easy to understand what the rationale is of the Turkish authorities, simply not complying with the court ruling,” Nacho Sanchez Amor told AFP.
“This is not about any kind of interfering from abroad, this is about the Turkish constitution, the European Court of Human Rights is part of the judiciary system of Turkey.”
He added that Turkey’s refusal to comply with the court ruling would “damage the image of the country.”
In July 2021, Kavala’s case was also merged, in addition to the merger with the Gezi Park trial in February 2021, with the trial of the Çarşı group, the left-leaning supporters of Turkish football club Beşiktaş who were at the forefront of the Gezi protests, after an appeals court also overturned the acquittal of the 35 defendants in the case, who are charged with attempting to overthrow the government, in April 2021.
However, the court decided to separate the Çarşı fan club trial during Monday’s hearing, from the main trial.
I was today at Çağlayan courthouse for #OsmanKavala's trial & witnessed the umpteenth legal trick in this mockery of due process: after the irrational merge of #Gezi case now judge ruled to split it again. All tricks won't hide the truth: @ECHR_CEDH rulings should be respected pic.twitter.com/Y8kAAEN5k3
— Nacho Sánchez Amor (@NachoSAmor) February 21, 2022
Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Kavala of being an agent of George Soros, a billionaire financier and pro-democracy campaigner.
Kavala’s supporters view his plight as a symbol of the purges Erdoğan unleashed after a coup attempt, and his case has become a growing irritant on Turkey’s complex ties with the West.
Government critics say Turkey’s standoff with the COE underscores the profound erosion of human rights under Erdoğan’s two-decade rule.