Following a new hearing held in Silivri on the outskirts of Istanbul, a Turkish court decided on Tuesday 24 December to keep the businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala in pre-trial detention. Incarcerated for two years, he had nevertheless been the subject of a request for release by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Application dismissed by the court which adjourned the trial to January 28.
This hearing was the first to be held since the ECHR demanded his "immediate release" on December 10. "It is established beyond (all) reasonable doubt that the measures" taken against him were aimed at "reducing Osman Kavala to silence and with him all human rights defenders", had then judged the ECHR.
"Illegal and discriminatory procedure"
At the opening of the hearing, the businessman himself requested his release by addressing the judges. "I demand the end of this illegal and discriminatory procedure which has resulted in my imprisonment for two years," he said.
Osman Kavala, a well-known figure in intellectual circles in Europe, is accused along with 15 other people of "attempting to overthrow the government" for having supported an anti-government protest movement in 2013, known as the "Gezi movement".
The philanthropist is accused of having financed this movement against the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who at that time occupied the post of Prime Minister.
In this case, which arouses the concern of human rights defenders, the 16 accused risk life imprisonment. They denounce a "witch hunt" and assure that there is "not the shadow of a proof" to support the accusation.
Symbol of repression
The day before the hearing, nine NGOs, including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), had called for the release of Osman Kavala and his co-defendants, saying their trial was "an example of the punishment used the government against dissent and is part of a wider crackdown on civil society. "
At the hearing, MEP Sergey Lagodinsky, chairman of the delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, said before the announcement of the decision that it would be "an important test of whether Turkish justice [ could] comply with European standards ".
"I think it's quite disappointing," he said after the verdict. It was hoped that the ECHR decision would be followed and that was not the case, "he said, saying that Osman Kavala" had no place in prison ".
The incarceration of the patron for two years has made him the symbol of the repression orchestrated against civil society in Turkey, in particular since an attempted coup in 2016 followed by massive purges.
With AFP
Newsletter Don't miss anything from international news
Don't miss anything from international newssubscribe
google-play-badge_FR