A Turkish court said on On Monday, imprisoned businessman Osman Kavala must stay in prisonlengthening son detention of more more than four years in a lawsuit that has further strained Ankara’s relations with Western allies.
The board of Europe said this month that son committee referred Kavala’s case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to determine whether Turkey has failed to fill son obligation to execute the previous judgment of the court that he should be released immediately delivered more than two years ago.
the move is the next step in “infringement action”, which could result in Suspension of Turkey from the Council of Europe, of of which he is a founding member.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan then said when asked about the decision that Turkey will not respect the Council of Europe if it does not respect the Turkish courts.
Kavala faced charges over the Gezi Park protests in 2013, a small number of demonstrations in Istanbul which later turned into nationwide riots which left eight demonstrators and a policeman dead. He was acquitted of Every expense in February 2020, but an appeals court overturned this verdict in January.
It was also accused of participation in the defeated 2016 coup orchestrated by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in Turkey and was taken into custody on charges of spying in March.
It’s only the second times the Council of Europe has resorted to infringement procedures against one of its 47 Member States, the first occasion being an action 2017 against Azerbaijan over son refusal to release dissident Ilgar Mammadov.
In October, embassies of the United States, Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden called for The Liberation of Kavala in a joint statement.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of these countries accusing them of interference in the justice Turkey, while President Erdoğan announced he had instructed Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to declare the 10 ambassadors persona non grata. However, embassies took a step backpreventing the crisis from worsening further.
The diplomatic row was resolved after the United States and several of The other countries issued statements saying they abide by the UN convention requiring diplomats not to interfere in servant of the host country affairs.
The ECtHR called for The Liberation of Kavala in end of 2019 over a lack of reasonable suspicion that he had committed an offence, finding that son detention served to silence him.
Earlier this month, Turkey urged the Council of Europe must not interfere in independent judiciary of the country and to be impartial towards the country in response to a decision regarding the Kavala case.
