Osman Kavala, a patron imprisoned in Turkey and the bête noire of Ankara, received the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize from the Council of Europe this Monday, October 9, which took the risk of arousing the anger of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The 66-year-old businessman and philanthropist was arrested in October 2017 and then sentenced to life imprisonment in 2022 by Turkish courts for “attempting to overthrow the government”, via the financing of anti-government demonstrations known as the “movement of Gezi” in 2013.
He has always denied the accusations against him. During his trial, he denounced a “judicial assassination” as well as the influence of the head of state on the justice system. His conviction was confirmed at the end of September by the Turkish Court of Cassation, despite a 2019 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the judicial arm of the Council of Europe, which ruled on the detention of Osman Kavala contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and requested his release.
“Aggravated life sentence”
His sentence of “aggravated life” is accompanied by placement in solitary confinement with no possibility of remission. “I am very sad that he is not with us to receive this prize, this very important prize,” said his wife, Ayse Bugra Kavala, receiving the award from the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , Tiny Kox.
Turkey’s refusal to release Osman Kavala has earned it an infringement procedure, which could go as far as its expulsion from the international organization, which brings together 46 countries, since last year’s exclusion of Russia following of the invasion of Ukraine.
For the Council of Europe, this “human rights defender and civil activist (…) has supported numerous civil society organizations since the early 1990s”. The measures taken against him “were aimed at silencing him and deterring other human rights defenders.”