The Council of Europe announced on Friday that it had started a procedure with a view to possible sanctions against Turkey, which has kept the patron Osman Kavala in detention despite an ECHR decision calling for his “immediate release” in December 2019.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, responsible for overseeing the execution of the decisions of the ECHR, has sent “a formal notice to Turkey in the Kavala affair”, indicates the pan-European organization in a press release, first step in a long procedure which could lead to sanctions. This is only the second time that this Strasbourg-based organization has resorted to this procedure, after having used it for the first time against Azerbaijan in 2017.
The release of Kavala still requested
In December 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the detention of Osman Kavala had taken place “in the absence of sufficient supporting evidence”, and was intended to “Silence him” and “dissuade other human rights defenders”. The opponent, a major figure in civil society, has been accused since 2013 by the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of seeking to destabilize Turkey.
In its “interim resolution” adopted on Thursday, the Committee calls on the Turkish authorities to ensure the “immediate release” of Osman Kavala and “to ensure the closure of the criminal proceedings against him on the basis of the findings of the European Court” . Without Ankara’s response to this formal notice, the Committee of Ministers should decide, at its meeting on February 2, 2022, to refer this matter to the ECHR.
In detention since 2017
It will then be up to her to officially state that Turkey has not released Osman Kavala and therefore has not complied with its obligation to respect the decisions of the Court. In this case, the Committee of Ministers could, at a subsequent meeting, decide on sanctions against Ankara. Anticipating this procedure, the Turkish foreign ministry called on the Council of Europe on Thursday evening to refrain from any “interference” in its judicial affairs.
Kavala is particularly targeted for having supported in 2013 the anti-government demonstrations known as the movement of Gezi, targeting Erdogan, then Prime Minister. Then he was accused of having sought to “overthrow the government” during the attempted coup in 2016, before being arrested on October 18, 2017 at Istanbul Atatürk Airport. In a second press release, the Council of Europe also once again calls on Turkey “for the immediate release” of Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the main opposition pro-Kurdish party.
