Turkish prisoner Osman Kavala, who has been detained for four and a half years without being convicted, will remain in prison, an Istanbul court ruled today despite Council of Europe threats to impose sanctions on Ankara.
Accused of “attempting to overthrow” the government, the publisher, who is in danger of being sentenced to life, will appear in court again on April 22.
Kavala, a black sheep for the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is accused of funding anti-government protests in 2013 and participating in a conspiracy that led to the failed July 2016 coup, as well as espionage allegations.
The philanthropist appeared today via video link before the three judges and described his detention as “completely unfounded”.
“The indictment was drafted with a politically motivated ideology. “There is nothing legal in this,” Tolga Agatore’s lawyer complained, demanding that his client be released.
The 64-year-old Kavala has been detained since the end of 2017 at the Silivri penitentiary, near Istanbul, despite the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, which requests his release from 2019.
In 2020, Kavala was acquitted of charges related to demonstrations that took place across the country in 2013. Hours later, another court ordered his arrest on the basis of a charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order linked to a 2016 coup attempt. .
That court later decided to release him on that charge, but ordered his detention on a charge of espionage in the same case, a move that critics say was intended to circumvent the ECtHR ruling.
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