Turkey: Philanthropist Osman Kavala remains in prison despite European threats

Portrait of imprisoned philanthropist Osman Kavala at the Istanbul Cultural Center.

AFP

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1 min

Turkish justice has decided to keep in detention the patron and philanthropist Osman Kavala, imprisoned for four years without trial.

A decision that risks tensing up the Council of Europe a little more, which is demanding his release.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul,

Many supporters expected

.

A dozen international delegations had also made the trip to the Istanbul courthouse, but the businessman and patron will remain behind bars.

The decision was taken in the afternoon by a majority of votes by one of the chambers of the High Criminal Court of the Istanbul Court.

The 62-year-old has been in prison for more than four years.

He is notably accused of having wanted to overthrow the constitutional order during the 2016 coup attempt. In a few years, Osman Kavala has become a symbol of the politicization of Turkish justice.

Many see his detention as a political procedure.

For two years now, Europe has been calling for his release.

The ECHR had, for example, requested his "

".

And in the face of Turkey's inaction, the Council of Ministers of the European Union had even initiated legal proceedings, threatening Turkey with sanctions, even if the procedure could take several months.

But in Turkey, the foreign minister has already warned that any action against the country would be considered interference in Turkish internal affairs.

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• Turkey

• Justice

• Human rights

• European Union