Three human rights organizations urged the immediate release of Osman Kavala, a Turkish businessman and rights defender, in a third-party intervention with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The recent intervention from Human Rights Watch (HRW), the International Commission of Jurists and the Turkey Litigation Support Project details a pattern of alleged political interference in Turkey’s judiciary, including a lack of independence in the Council of Judges and Prosecutors and defiance of European rulings in politically sensitive cases.
“The proceedings against Mr. Kavala are intrinsically linked to two key issues,” the intervention said, “the erosion of judicial independence and impartiality in Turkey… and Turkey’s flagrant and persistent failure to implement ECtHR judgments.”
The groups’ intervention argues that these systemic issues reveal an intention to sideline dissident voices and avoid implementing binding European court judgments.
Kavala, who has been imprisoned since November 2017 on charges related to the 2013 anti-government Gezi Park protests, was sentenced to life in prison in 2022 for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His conviction, seen as politically motivated by many, was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals in September 2023.
“For seven years, I have endured a judicial process marred by baseless accusations and false testimony that violate the presumption of innocence, ” Kavala said in a letter, on the seventh anniversary of his arrest on Friday. “The civil society work we carried out for years, which I believe contributed to a culture of peace and reconciliation, has been obstructed.”
In January, Kavala lodged a new application with the ECtHR, alleging that Turkish authorities have continued to violate his rights, focusing on issues of due process and the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. His lawyers argue that these ongoing violations, coupled with his life sentence, indicate continued efforts to silence and punish him as a vocal human rights advocate.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard also called for Kavala’s release, saying on X, “Osman Kavala has been unjustly imprisoned for over seven years despite binding European court rulings.”
The recent submission also cites his detention as a form of inhuman and degrading treatment, amounting to torture. The European court is expected to issue a ruling on Kavala’s latest application in the coming months.
An infringement procedure initiated against Turkey could potentially see Ankara expelled from the continent’s leading human rights organization, the Council of Europe (C0E).
Infringement proceedings can result in the suspension of the member state’s voting rights and membership in the CoE, which Turkey joined in 1950, according to Human Rights Watch.
The possibility of launching infringement proceedings against a member state for failing to implement ECtHR judgments has been used twice before: first in 2017 in the case of Azerbaijani opposition activist Ilgar Mammadov, and again in 2022 against Russia due to its refusal to comply with European court rulings and its invasion of Ukraine, which ultimately led to Russia’s expulsion from the CoE.
Turkey’s judiciary is criticized by international bodies and rights groups for taking orders from the executive branch. Ankara disbarred more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors immediately after an abortive military coup in July 2016 over alleged ties to the faith-based Gülen movement, which it accused of orchestrating the attempted putsch. The movement denies any involvement.
The mass disbarment of members of the judiciary is believed by many to have had a chilling effect on the entire justice system, intimidating the remaining judges and prosecutors into doing the government’s bidding by launching politically motivated investigations into critics.
A leading figure in Turkey’s civil society, 64-year-old Kavala was born in Paris, educated in the UK and ran a cultural center before being thrust to prominence. He was accused of financing the Gezi Park protests against then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government in 2013.
The Gezi Park protests began in the summer of 2013 as a reaction to government plans to demolish a park in central İstanbul but quickly escalated into widespread anti-government demonstrations. The protests were met with violent suppression, resulting in the death of 11 demonstrators due to excessive police force.
Kavala’s conviction, along with those of other defendants, has been widely criticized as politically motivated and has drawn significant international condemnation and domestic protest.
