Kavala case: Council of Europe gives Turkey until January 19 to submit its opinion

The Council of Europe informed Ankara of its intention to refer the matter to European Court of Human Rights at its meeting on 2 February 2022, requesting the Turkey to submit its opinion no later than 19 January on case of Osman Kavalas, whom Ankara refuses to release.

In particular, the Council of Europe statement states that the Committee of Ministers “formally informed Turkey of its intention to refer the Kavala v. Turkey case to the European Court of Human Rights, asking whether Turkey had failed to comply with the Court’s decision. in this case, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 46.4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. “

He added that “in December 2019, the European Court of Justice ruled that Mr. Kavalas was detained for lack of sufficient evidence that he had committed a crime. He found that his arrest and pre-trial detention had an ultimate purpose, that is to silence him and deter other human rights defenders, and that the time it took for the Turkish Constitutional Court to consider his complaint was insufficiently “fast”.

The European Court of Justice, as reported by the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, concluded that the Turkish government should take every measure to end the detention of Kavalas and ensure his immediate release. The decision of the Court became final in May 2020, when the case was transferred to the Committee of Ministers to supervise the execution of the decision “.

At the same time, it is stated that “in an interim resolution adopted yesterday, the Commission recalled its eight previous decisions and a previous interim resolution, strongly calling on the Turkish authorities, on the one hand, to ensure immediate release of the applicant and, on the other hand, to ensure the completion of the criminal proceedings against him on the basis of the findings of the European Court of Justice and without delay “.

The statement added: “The Commission has informed Turkey of its intention to refer the matter to the Court at its meeting on 2 February 2022, requesting that Turkey submit its opinion by 19 January at the latest.”

Council of Europe launches sanctions process against Turkey

The Council of Europe started sanctioning process against Turkey to continue his detention Osman Kavala.

Specifically, Council of Europe announces decision to announce intention to launch ‘infringement procedure’ to Turkey against the country for continuing the detention of the philanthropic businessman Osman Kavala pursuant to a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights.

Last week, a Turkish court ruled continuation of the detention of Osman Kavala, extending his four-year detention without a conviction in a trial that has heightened tensions in Ankara’s relations with its western allies.

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