Businessman Osman Kavala Remains in Prison

Text by: RFI Follow

In Turkey, Osman Kavala remains in prison. After being acquitted on Tuesday February 18 after a trial in which he was accused of funding anti-Erdogan protests in 2013, an Istanbul court again ordered his incarceration on Wednesday evening, as part of another investigation.

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From our correspondent in Istanbul , Anne Andlauer

The supporters of businessman and patron Osman Kavala, a major figure in Turkish civil society, denounce a decision taken on the orders of political power.

Osman Kavala, who has already spent almost two and a half years in prison, will therefore not have known a single minute of freedom. In a little over 24 hours, he was alternately acquitted, placed in police custody without even being released, presented to a judge and again imprisoned in the context of another investigation.

This time, it is no longer a question of his alleged role in anti-government demonstrations in 2013 , but of supposed links to the failed coup of July 2016 in Turkey.

"The judicial system is under heavy political control"

All this has enough to strengthen the feeling of relentlessness against the philanthropist and, beyond that, concern about the rule of law, said Emma Sinclair-Webb, director of research on Turkey for the NGO Human Rights Watch .

“ This shows that the justice system is under heavy political control. This should show the world how much the Turkish judiciary lacks independence, she said. It has become a tool of political power, it is used as an instrument by the government against those perceived as critical of the government. It is therefore an extremely important moment, which really shows the destruction of the Turkish judicial system. "

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the acquittal of Osman Kavala in a speech. The Council of Judges and Prosecutors authorized the opening of an investigation against the three magistrates who had rendered this decision.

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