New Kavala hearing: a symptom of Turkey’s gangrened justice system
Tomorrow, on Friday 18 December 2020, human rights defenders Osman Kavala will have been detained for 1,144 days. On the same day the first hearing of the trial based on October 2020 indictment will take place: at this trial, Mr. Kavala risks a life-long prison term.
On their own, these two figures reveal the deep dysfunctionality and politicisation of Turkey’s legal system. The appointment of judges and prosecutors by the Legislative and Executive powers, contrary to international standards of judicial independence, now ensures that human rights defenders and figures of independent civil society such as Mr Kavala are kept behind bars indefinitely.
Tomorrow’s indictment, which lacks any causal relation between the information provided and the crimes with which Osman Kavala is charged, also targets Anadolu Kultur, a non-profit cultural organisation founded by Mr Kavala. For Turkey’s law and order representatives, Anadolu Kultur’s activities are “divisive” and discriminatory because they focus on the cultural rights of minority groups in Turkey.
The 64-page indictment against him accuses Osman Kavala of “securing, for purposes of political or military espionage, information that should be kept confidential for reasons relating to the security or domestic or foreign policy interests of the state”. Mr. Kavala also stands accused of “attempting through force and violence to overthrow the constitutional order of the Republic of Turkey or introduce a different order or prevent this order”. Under articles 328 of the Turkish Penal Code, these are respectively punishable with up to 20 years imprisonment and life in prison without parole.
This new hearing occurs a year after the European Court of Human Rights’ binding judgement, which stated that Mr Kavala’s detention had an “ulterior purpose, namely to reduce him to silence as an NGO activist and human rights defender, to dissuade other persons from engaging in such activities and to paralyse civil society in the country”. Tomorrow’s hearing demonstrates only one thing: the authorities’ flagrant travesty of the courts for political ends and their fundamental disregard for the basic principles of criminal justice.
We, the undersigned human rights organisations, believe that the only just outcome in the unfair prosecution against Mr Kavala is his acquittal and call on the authorities to uphold its domestic and international commitments, and dismiss all charges against the defendant.
List of signatories
- EuroMed Rights
- Human Rights Association
- Citizens’ Assembly
- Civil Rights Defenders
- Research Institute on Turkey
- Turkish German Forum of Culture
- IFoX Initiative for Freedom of Expression
- AMER (Association for Monitoring Equal Rights)
- Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA)
- Truth Justice Memory Center
- Civic Space Studies Association
- P24
- FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- POMED
Background on Mr Kavala’s case
The indictment held in Istanbul tomorrow, Friday 18 December 2020, was scheduled following a decision made in October 2020. On 15 December 2020, the first chamber of the Constitutional Court, charged of reviewing the individual application filed by Mr Kavala, ruled that his application must be reviewed by the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court. At tomorrow’s trial, Mr Kavala will stand accused for his alleged role in the 2016 attempted coup.
Early December 2020, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers issued a strongly worded resolution demanding the authorities to immediately release Mr Kavala who is held in pre-trial detention since 1 November 2017. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers noted that Turkey had failed to challenge the presumption that Mr Kavala’s detention is a continuation of the violations found by the European Court of Human Rights. They denounced the inaction from the national Constitutional Court.
Despite the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling and the threat posed by the current pandemic worldwide, Turkey’s authorities disregarded the health risk of keeping Mr Kavala (63, over 3 years in prison) behind bars. This decision openly infringes on the United Nations Human Rights Committee stance on the failure of a state in taking positive steps towards the prevention of the spread of contagious diseases in prison would amount to a violation of Article 6 (right to life) and Article 9 (right to liberty) of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, 1996 (ICCPR).