His seven co-accused, accused of having given him their support, were sentenced to eighteen years in prison.
Le Monde with AFP
Has detained since 1,637 days – more than four and a half – he had never ceased to claim his innocence, in vain. The Turkish patron Osman Kavala was sentenced on Monday, April 25 in Istanbul after the defense argument, who had claimed his acquittal for lack of evidence and denounced the fierceness of power.
His seven co-accused, accused of having supported him, were sentenced to eighteen years in prison.
The philantro, accused of trying to overthrow the Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016, will not be able to receive any sentence, said the judges, including the verdict, statement after less than an hour. deliberate, was welcomed by boos in the courtroom. It was only paid from the prosecution of espionage.
“Judicial Assassination”
Turkish civil society, Mr. Kavala, 64, was accused of having sought to overthrow the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan by funding anti-government demonstrations called “Gezi Movement”, in 2013, and during the Failed coup of July 2016. It is from the high security prison of Silivri, on the edge of Istanbul, videoconferencing and dressed as usual with an impeccable white shirt, which he followed Monday the pleadings and heard the verdict statement, epilogue of a judicial array returned from month to month.
Faced with the yard Friday, Osman Kavala also denounced the influence of President Erdogan on his trial. He denounced, at the closing of the debates, a “judicial assassination” against his person: “the theories of the plot, advanced for political and ideological reasons, prevented an impartial analysis of events and [them] disconnected from reality” , he launched before the judges withdraw.
During the hearing, the three lawyers of the businessman, publisher and philanthropist, have argued that never before the judges asked him “where he was” during the facts that were reproached to him. During the pleadings, the representative of the Pen Club, Association of Freedom of Expression, Caroline Stockford, asked the judges to “let go of their phone” to listen to the defense, suggesting that they received their orders on screen.
Diplomatic crisis
Human rights activists had hoped for a liberation, which would send a positive signal, while Turkey tries to facilitate talks between Ukraine and Russia. Especially since the President, Erdogan, simultaneously received Ankara the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. As at each hearing, a dozen Western diplomats were present to testify to their support for the one who became the black beast of the Erdogan regime.
The Kavala case triggered a diplomatic crisis in October 2021. Ankara had threatened to expel a dozen Western ambassadors, including that of the United States, who had claimed his release – without eventually putting his threat.
In February 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) launched a “failure procedure” against Turkey. Last month, Turkish prosecutors claimed the conviction of Mr. Kavala for “attempted reversal” of the government, a life sentence without the possibility of early release.
Imprisoned a few hours after being acquitted
Nicknamed the “Red Billionaire” by its detractors, Osman Kavala, born in Paris, had been arrested in October 2017. Acknowledged in February 2020 for expenses related to the 2013 events, the publisher had been arrested a few hours later – Neferly to be able to go home – then returned to prison, this time accused of having sought to “overthrow the government” at the July 2016 swaddled putsch, as well as espionage. His acquittal had, then, been invalidated by Turkish justice, but the regular renewal of his detention made him the hero of the opposition to President Erdogan.
“have spent four and a half years old in prison can never be offset. The only thing that can console me will have helped to reveal the serious errors of Turkish justice,” he said friday. In December 2020, the Turkish Constitutional Court had also decided that this very long pre-trial detention was not a violation to its right to freedom and security.