The philanthropist was found guilty of attempted coup in 2016. Civil organizations say the trial was a “farce”. He will not be paroled and has compared the sentence to murder.Turkish activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala was convicted on Monday (26 April) by a court in Istanbul of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government in 2016. He had already been in prison without a trial for four and a half years.
Kavala, 64, has been held without trial since October 2017.
Photo: DW / Deutsche Welle
The trial drew international attention and strained relations between Ankara and Western countries as the trial was widely seen as a political crackdown on critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
DW correspondent Dorian Jones said the reaction to the verdict and the verdict had been shocking in the country. “There is a palpable shock in Turkish civil society. The penalty is the harshest that can be imposed in Turkey. This means that Osman Kavala is being held in solitary confinement, cannot be paroled and will now serve the rest of his life in prison.”
Civilians refer to “farce”
The AFP news agency reported that the verdict was met with boos from some who had gathered to follow the trial, including several Western diplomats.
According to the Association of Media and Legal Studies group that observed the trial, Kavala said after his conviction, “The qualified life sentence proposed against me is murder that cannot be explained on legal grounds.”
Amnesty International’s Europe director, Nils Muiznieks, criticized the verdict. “Today we are witnessing a justice farce of spectacular proportions,” he said.
Human Rights Watch’s Emma SinclairWebb said Kavala’s conviction and conviction was “the worst possible outcome for this sham trial.”
What was the case about?
Kavala and seven other famous defendants were charged with espionage and attempting to overthrow the government, among other charges.
They are accused of links to the 2013 Gezi protests and attempted coup of 2016, which Erdogan sees as part of an international plot to overthrow him.
Defendant Mucella Yapici previously told the court that the 2013 Gezi rallies were “the most democratic, creative and peaceful collective movement in the history of this country”.
Parisborn Kavala, who made his fortune in the publishing industry, was initially arrested when he arrived at Istanbul Airport in October 2017 after a trip to a cultural center in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
He was accused of funding a wave of antigovernment protests in 2013. Although he was released in 2020, he was arrested again just hours later on charges of attempting to disrupt the constitutional order in connection with an attempted 2016 coup to fall.
He was also acquitted of those charges, but jailed on espionage charges in the same case. Critics say these charges were aimed at circumventing a 2019 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights calling for his release. In the end, the 64yearold Kavala faced charges related to both the 2013 protests and the 2016 coup attempt.
Turkey declared a state of emergency after the failed coup attempt, using this as an excuse to purge the armed forces and the public sector. The government has accused US cleric Fetullah Gülen and his Hizmet movement of organizing the attempted coup to overthrow Erdogan.
bl (Reuters, AFP, AP)