The Council of Europe once again called on Ankara today to release “without delay” the ouster Osman Kavala who yesterday was sentenced to life imprisonmentwhile a process of imposing sanctions on Turkey has already begun.
“I am deeply disappointed by the sentence of life imprisonment announced yesterday by an Istanbul court against Osman Kavalas”said the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Tyne Cox in his announcement.
“The fact that he spent almost five years in prison and that he has now been sentenced to life imprisonment, following a trial in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights“It is shocking,” he continued.
“Kavala must be released without delay”underlined Cox.
The Council of Europe has repeatedly called for release of 64-year-old Turkish dissident. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned in 2019 Ankara for the unjust detention of Kavalas, which aims to “silence him and all human rights activists.”
Despite the decisions of the ECtHR, Turkish authorities refused to release Kavalas. That is why the Council of Europe has launched a process of imposing sanctions on Ankara, a rare move that could cost Turkey its right to vote or even be excluded from the body, which it joined in 1950.
“I rely on the Turkish judiciary to act in full respect of the rules of the European Convention on Human Rights and in accordance with Turkey’s international obligations under it.” Cox concluded.
Kavala, a well-known activist and art lover, has been accused of trying to overthrow the government of the Turkish president. Recep Tayyip Erdogan financing his anti-government demonstrations “Gezi movement” in 2013 and supporting the failed coup of 2016. He has been held for 1,574 days in his highest security prison Silver, near Istanbul
The Kavalas case provoked last fall diplomatic crisis, as Ankara threatened to expel ten ambassadors of Western countries, including the United States, because they demanded the release of the businessman.
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