ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey’s leading activist
Osman Kavala, who at the weekend marked his 1,600th day in prison without
conviction, appeared before court Monday for the first time in months, only to
have his case adjourned and his detention extended.
اضافة اعلان
The philanthropist
is accused of financing 2013 anti-government protests and playing a role in a
coup plot against President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The case has
strained Turkey’s ties with the West and become a symbol of Turkey’s sweeping
crackdown on government opponents.
Kavala has been
detained since 2017 in a huge prison complex on the outskirts of Istanbul, in
defiance of a European Court of Human Rights ruling to release him.
Last month, the
Council of Europe (COE) launched rare disciplinary action against Turkey over
the case, which Ankara denounced as interference.
Kavala, who had
snubbed court hearings since October, on Monday attended the latest hearing in
Istanbul’s main court Caglayan via a video link from his prison in Silivri —
about 60km west of Istanbul.
His presence had
built up expectations that the three judges overseeing his trial could be poised
to deliver a final verdict.
Many Western
observers, including diplomats from
France and the US were present in the
packed courtroom, an AFP journalist reported.
Erdogan has been
trying to salvage battered ties with the European Union in recent months, a bid
that intensified after
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘Completely baseless’
On Monday, the judge accepted the prosecutor’s demand to extend
Kavala’s remand and set the next hearing for April 22.
“My ongoing
imprisonment is completely baseless,” Kevela told the court on Monday.
He denies the
claims against him and has branded the charges “politically motivated”.
If convicted,
Kavala faces an aggravated life sentence, which has tougher terms of detention.
On March 4, the
prosecutor delivered his final opinion, demanding that Kavala be found guilty
of “attempting to overthrow” Erdogan’s government.
Erdogan has openly
targeted Kavala and accused him of being an agent of George Soros, a
Hungarian-born billionaire
US financier and pro-democracy campaigner.
Last October,
Kavala said he would not defend himself in court because he lost faith in a
fair trial after his case sparked a diplomatic spat.
Erdogan nearly
expelled 10 Western envoys, including from the US and major European powers,
after they appealed for Kavala’s release last October.
‘Nothing legal’
Tolga Aytore, Kavala’s lawyer, said the indictment was penned with an
“enthusiastic political ideology,” adding: “There’s nothing legal there.”
Kavala is on trial
with 16 other defendants over the 2013 protests.
Nine out of the
other 16 are abroad. The remaining seven were in court on Monday.
Human rights
organizations have criticized the case.
“Despite
committing no internationally recognized crime, he remains arbitrarily detained
on baseless charges in a facility far away from his family,” said Nils
Muiznieks,
Amnesty International’s Europe director.
Muiznieks accused
the prosecutors of seeking but failing “to conjure a crime out of thin air”.
“Each torturous
twist in this politically motivated prosecution has further exposed the
hollowness of the Turkish justice system,” he added ahead of Monday’s hearing.
Turkey faces infringement
proceedings by the COE, the second time the body has taken such action, the
first occasion in 2017 against Azerbaijan over its refusal to release a
dissident.
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