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The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) co-rapporteurs for Turkey, John Howell and Boriss Cilevičs, were denied visit to jailed human rights defender Osman Kavala, who was recently sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on 28 April.
The Turkish ministry of Justice did not grant permission to Howell and Cilevičs to meet with Kavala in prison during the co-rapporteurs’ three-day visit in Turkey, Euronews Turkish reported.
John Howell said to Euronews that the ‘evidence’ in the case of Kavala, far from being sufficient even for detention according to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), constituted the basis for the heaviest sentence possible in the Turkish court, and that this signified an abject disregard for the ECHR’s decision.
“We came here to learn firsthand from Kavala what he thought about the decision in the case, to listen to him,” Howell said, adding that they were sorry for the Turkish ministry’s rejection of their request to visit him.
Kavala, incarcerated since October 2017, was found guilty in a Turkish court of attempting to ‘overthrow the elected government’ in the backdrop of the 2013 Gezi protests, that began as a small demonstration against the destruction of the Gezi Park near Istanbul’s Taksim Square, and which eventually evolved into a huge rally as hundreds of thousands flooded into the area in protest against police violence.
Kavala said in his latest defence statement at court: “It’s not logical to make a claim that I’d financed Gezi protests merely with a desk, a speaker, a chair, some pastries, and some face masks.”
The Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers voted on 2 February 2022 to begin infringement proceedings against Turkey over Turkey’s failure over the past two years to comply with the ECHR’s ruling that Kavala should be released immediately.
