Call from Council of Europe on Turkey: KAVALA should be released immediately

A reaction came from the Council of Europe to the fact that Osman Kavala, a businessman who was tried in the Gezi Park case with the July 15 coup attempt, was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment with a charge of “attempting to overthrow the government”. The council said “Kavala should be released without further delay.”

Tiny Kox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) which implements the violation procedure for Turkey in the trials of businessman Osman Kavala, said in a statement, “I am deeply disappointed that Osman Kavala has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an Istanbul court.”

The fact that “he has remained imprisoned for nearly five years, and been sentenced to life imprisonment at the end of the judicial process which has apparently violated the European Convention of human rights” is shocking. Kavala must be released immediately.”   

The Council of Europe had demanded many times that the businessman Kavala be released. The council’s judicial arm, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), had ordered Kavala’s release in 2019.

However, the courts In Turkey, did not apply the violation decision issued by the ECHR in the Kavala case. The government saw the criticism from the EU as an “interference in the independent judicial process”.

TURKEY MAY LOSE RIGHT TO VOTE IN COUNCIL OF EUROPE

This led to the fact that the Council of Europe initiated a violation procedure against Turkey. As a result of this process, Turkey may face the risk of lost its right to vote in the Council of which it became a member in 1950, as well as the possibility of a rare situation such as being excluded from membership.