Following yesterday’s ruling by the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) in favor of Gezi Park protestor Osman Kavala, major human rights organizations Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Turkey Litigation Support Project (TLSP) made a joint statement calling on Turkey to immediately implement the Court’s judgement.
The organizations also requested that Council of Europe member states explicitly and clearly demand Turkey comply with the ECtHR decision and immediately release Kavala. Member states should make Kavala’s case a priority agenda item when dealing with Turkey, they said.
ECtHR: Osman Kavala must be released as soon as possible
25 August 2026
Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office Eve Geddie said the following: “Türkiye has defied two previous binding rulings from the Court in his case. This obstruction of justice must end. Türkiye’s authorities, including judicial and prosecutorial, must act to free Osman Kavala immediately and unconditionally.”
Who is Osman Kavala
Osman Kavala is a Turkish businessman, philanthropist and human rights defender well-known for his role in civil society. Kavala was initially arrested in 2017 on charges of allegedly funding the nationwide anti-government 2013 Gezi Park protests. The charges have since been dropped but afterwards he was arrested on espionage charges, stemming from the same investigation. He has remained in prison since 2017, despite multiple rulings from the ECtHR calling for his release. His case has attracted the attention of civil rights organizations around the world.
The joint statement emphasized the Court’s finding that Kavala’s trial and subsequent detention is politically motivated, and thus Turkey has a responsibility to overturn the convictions against him.
“Europe’s highest human rights court has confirmed beyond doubt that Kavala’s arrest, detention, prosecution and conviction as part of the Gezi trial was politically motivated and completely flawed from start to finish,” TLSP Director Ayşe Bingöl Demir said.
The statement also noted that Turkey was among one of the first states to join the Council of Europe and become party to the Convention. This means that Turkey has already agreed to protect the rights it enshrines and implement the binding judgements of the Court.
Osman Kavala marks seven years in prison
1 November 2024
Yesterday’s ruling was the ECtHR’s third on the Kavala case. In the Court’s initial Dec. 2019 ruling, it found that Kavala’s detention was in violation of his right to liberty and silenced him as a human rights defender. A subsequent July 2022 ruling found that Turkey had not fulfilled its obligations based on the binding 2019 decision.
“Osman Kavala has been unlawfully imprisoned for nearly nine years,” said HRW senior legal advisor Aisling Reidy.
“The European Court has now demanded his immediate release three times. It is vital that the Council of Europe and its member states act to ensure that the Court’s judgments are respected and that Osman Kavala – finally – is freed.”
(FY/İK)
Source: BIANET
