The resolution from the Council of Europe, which monitors the ECHR, comes a week before the anniversary of a judgement passed by the court on Osman Kavala’s detention. The court found that Kavala’s detention violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council “strongly urged again the authorities... to assure the applicant’s immediate release,” and “expressed its profound concern that the applicant has been continuously deprived of his liberty since October 2017.”
A Turkish court ordered the release of Kavala in February of this year, after acquitting him on charges linked to the 2013 protests against Erdogan sparked by a plan to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park.
But before he could leave jail, Kavala was placed under arrest again hours later on separate charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in the failed 2016 coup against Erdogan.
Amnesty International welcomed the Council’s “strongly worded” resolution on Thursday.
“Almost a year to the day after the European Court for Human Rights issued a binding judgment finding that the detention of Osman Kavala is politically motivated, today’s resolution demanding his immediate release sends a clear message to the Turkish authorities that his continued imprisonment cannot and will not be tolerated,” Amnesty International’s Europe Director Nils Muiznieks said.
“Today’s resolution and last year’s Court judgment cannot be brushed aside by the Turkish authorities… each day Osman Kavala spends behind bars is yet another confirmation of the ulterior motive behind his imprisonment,” Muiznieks added.
In flagrance of the ECHR judgement, Turkey indicted Kavala on new charges in October – a move that Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Commission of Jurists condemned as “politically motivated and bereft of legal credibility”.
The new indictment accused Kavala of espionage and “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order of Turkey.” The former is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and the latter by life in prison without parole.
Turkey has come under sustained fire from international human rights groups for its prolific detention of journalists, lawyers and activists.
