ECHR judges to decide in Kavala case at public hearing

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Grand Chamber will deliver a judgment in the Kavala case at a public hearing 11 July in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, France, the Court announced on Monday.

The Grand Chamber will convene to decide, upon a question referred by the Committee of Ministers (CoM) of the Council of Europe (CoE), whether Turkey has failed to fulfill its obligation to comply with the ECHR ruling in the Kavala case.

The CoE Committee of Ministers voted on 2 February to start infringement proceedings against Turkey over its non-compliance with a decision of the ECHR to release human rights defender Osman Kavala and restore his rights.

The Committee accordingly sent the case back to the ECHR for a legal opinion on whether Turkey has met its obligations to comply with the judgment.

The ECHR had ruled in December 2019 that the European Convention on Human Rights was violated in the Kavala case, and called for Kavala’s immediate release. The ECHR had concluded that Kavala’s arrest was based on political motives, without any reasonable evidence backing the charges.

A multitude of trials for Osman Kavala

Kavala has been incarcerated in Turkey since October 2017.

On 18 February 2020 he was acquitted of the charge of 'attempting to overthrow the Government through force and violence' in the context of 2013 Gezi Park protests.

However, the decision to release him on bail, delivered on the same date, did not lead to his actual release. He was placed in police custody on the same date, then on the following day he was placed in pretrial detention over an accusation of 'attempting to overthrow the constitutional order' in the context of the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016.'

His release was ordered on 20 March 2020. In the meantime, on 9 March 2020, he was placed in pretrial detention for 'military or political espionage'.

On 25 April 2022 an Istanbul court found Kavala guilty of attempting to overthrow the Government through force and violence, and sentenced him to aggravated life imprisonment.