JUST IN — Turkey: Rights activist Osman Kavala sentenced to life in prison

Turkish activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala was found guilty of trying to overthrow the government by an Istanbul court on Monday.

He had spent the last four-and-a-half years in prison without being convicted.

The trial had garnered international attention, adding pressure to ties between Ankara and its Western allies as the process had been widely viewed as a crackdown on critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

What was the case about?

Kavala and seven other prominent defendants faced accusations of espionage and attempting to overthrow the government, among other charges.

They were accused of alleged ties to the 2013 Gezi protests and the 2016 coup attempt, both considered by Erdogan as part of an international plot to topple him.

Defendant Mucella Yapici previously told the court that the 2013 Gezi rallies were the “most democratic, most creative and peaceful collective movement in this country’s history.”

Paris-born Kavala, who made his fortune in publishing, was initially detained on arrival at Istanbul’s airport from a trip to a cultural center in the Turkish city of Gaziantep in October 2017.

He was accused of financing a wave of 2013 anti-government protests. Despite being cleared in 2020, he was arrested again just hours later on a charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order related to a 2016 coup attempt.

He was also acquitted on that charge — but detained on accusations of espionage in the same case. Critics say those charges were aimed at circumventing a 2019 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) calling for his release.

Ultimately, the 64-year-old faced charges relating to both the 2013 protests and the 2016 coup effort. 

jsi,kb/msh (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/just-in-turkey-rights-activist-osman-kavala-sentenced-to-life-in-prison/a-61578255?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf