European human rights court orders Turkey to release Osman Kavala and voids life sentence

Strasbourg court ruling

The European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment on Tuesday ordering Turkey to release philanthropist and publisher Osman Kavala as soon as possible. The Strasbourg court determined that Kavala's 2022 conviction and sentence to life imprisonment without parole are null and void. In a decision approved by a 15 to 2 majority, the court instructed the Turkish government to pay the 68-year-old activist more than 110,000 euros in compensation. The ruling found multiple violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the denial of a fair trial and unlawful deprivation of liberty. ECHR President Mattias Guyomar noted that Ankara had ignored earlier binding orders from the tribunal.

It is necessary to ensure his release as soon as possible.

Systemic judicial shortcomings

The Strasbourg judges identified a systemic problem in the Turkish justice system, characterized by the prosecution and detention of political opponents, human rights advocates, and journalists through broad interpretations of criminal law. The judgment determined that structural shortcomings weakened the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, enabling executive authorities to exert direct or indirect influence over court decisions in politically sensitive cases. According to the court, the legal actions against Kavala pursued an ulterior purpose of punishing him for his role in the Gezi Park demonstrations and his civil society work while attempting to silence him. The ruling also found a violation of the prohibition against inhuman treatment because Turkish law offered Kavala no realistic prospect of release or statutory sentence review.

Nine years of legal battles

Turkish police initially detained Kavala in October 2017, transferring him to the Silivri high-security prison on the outskirts of Istanbul. For more than 30 years, the businessman had directed the nonprofit Anadolu Kültür, promoting minority rights, Turkish-Armenian dialogue, Kurdish cultural issues, and Anatolian heritage. Government-aligned media outlets subsequently labelled him an internal enemy and the Turkish equivalent of American billionaire George Soros. A domestic court acquitted Kavala in 2020 of allegations regarding the 2013 Gezi Park protests against then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Authorities rearrested him immediately on accusations relating to the 2016 coup attempt, overturned the acquittal, merged the indictments, and handed down a life sentence without parole in April 2022.

Political tensions and diplomatic fallout

The prolonged detention of Kavala has generated recurring diplomatic disputes between Ankara and Western allies. In 2021, President Erdogan threatened to expel ten Western ambassadors, including representatives from the United States, France, and Germany, after they released a joint statement calling for Kavala's liberation. Turkish officials continue to assert that the nation's courts operate independently, with Erdogan previously declaring that Turkey would not recognize institutions that refuse to recognize Turkish court decisions. Following Turkey's refusal to implement a December 2019 ECHR ruling, the 46-member Council of Europe launched formal infringement proceedings against Ankara, while awarding Kavala the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize in late 2023.