The Council of Europe has once again called on Ankara to release “without delay” the late Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison yesterday, and has already begun a process of imposing sanctions on Turkey over the issue.
“I am deeply disappointed by the sentencing of Osman Kavala by an Istanbul court to life imprisonment yesterday,” said Tiny Cox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in a statement.
“The fact that he spent almost five years in prison and has now been sentenced to life in prison following a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights is shocking,” he said.
“Kavala must be released without delay,” Cox said.
The Council of Europe has repeatedly called for the release of the 64-year-old Turkish dissident. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Ankara in 2019 for the unjust detention of Kavalas, which aims to “silence him and all human rights activists”.
Despite the decisions of the ECtHR, the Turkish authorities refused to release Kavalas. That is why the Council of Europe has launched a process of imposing sanctions on Ankara, a rare move that could cost Turkey its right to vote or even be excluded from the body, which it joined in 1950.
“I rely on the Turkish judiciary to act in full compliance with the rules of the European Convention on Human Rights and in accordance with Turkey’s international obligations under it,” Cox concluded.
Kavala, a well-known activist and fan of the arts, was accused of trying to overthrow the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by financing the anti-government demonstrations of the “Gezi movement” in 2013 and supporting the failed coup. Silivri High Security Prison, near Istanbul
Kavala’s case sparked a diplomatic crisis last autumn, as Ankara threatened to expel ten ambassadors from Western countries, including the United States, because they demanded the businessman’s release.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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