Turkey condemns referring Kavala case to ECHR as interfering in judiciary

By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ali Kucukgocmen

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A European human rights watchdog will refer the Turkish case in opposition to philanthropist Osman Kavala again to a prime European court docket, Turkey’s overseas ministry stated on Wednesday, including that the transfer amounted to interfering in its judiciary.

Kavala, certainly one of Turkey’s highest-profile detainees, has been held for greater than 4 years with out a conviction.

The European Courtroom of Human Rights (ECHR) dominated greater than two years in the past that Kavala needs to be launched instantly and stated his detention served to silence him, however Turkey has not carried out the ruling.

A spokesman for the Council of Europe, of which Turkey is a founding member, didn’t affirm the choice by its Committee of Ministers, which met on Wednesday. He stated its choice was attributable to be revealed on Thursday.

The query of whether or not Turkey has violated the European Conference on Human Rights by not executing the court docket’s judgment will now be referred again to the ECHR. The transfer is the subsequent step in an “infringement proceedings” course of that would result in Ankara’s suspension from the Council of Europe.

Nacho Sanchez Amor, Turkey rapporteur for the European Parliament, stated: “That is what occurs when a legally binding ruling is blatantly ignored.”

Turkey’s International Ministry stated the nation had advised the Committee that the detention was attributable to one other judicial course of and the ECHR ruling had been carried out.

“It’s evident that this prejudiced choice, taken with political motives by disregarding an ongoing inside judicial course of, damages the repute of the European human rights system,” it stated.

The ministry stated the Committee’s choice, taken by a majority of votes, amounted to interfering within the judicial course of and was “removed from being completed with good intentions”.

Kavala was acquitted in 2020 of prices associated to 2013 nationwide protests. Hours later, one other court docket ordered his arrest primarily based on a cost of making an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order associated to the 2016 coup try, which the ECHR had additionally stated lacked foundation.

That court docket later dominated to launch him on that cost however ordered his detention on an espionage cost in the identical case, a transfer critics stated was aimed toward circumventing the ECHR ruling.

Kavala stated in an announcement on Wednesday: “I hope the analysis that the ECHR delivers will contribute to the preservation of judicial norms concerning human rights in Turkey.”

(Enhancing by Jonathan Spicer and Alison Williams)