The Council of Europe will punish Turkey for the arrested activist

The Council of Europe said on Friday that it would take disciplinary action against Turkey for refusing to release prominent activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala.

The Committee of Ministers of the Pan-European Rights Organization has taken this step in response to Turkey’s repeated refusal to comply with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights to release Kavala in 2019.

This comes at a time when there are growing concerns about human rights abuses in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For more than four years, the Turkish leader has repeatedly targeted Kavala, who has been imprisoned without trial.

“Failing to secure the immediate release of the applicant, the Committee considers that Turkey refuses to comply with the final court decision in this case,” the Council of Europe said.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday called on the Council of Europe not to start the protest “out of respect for the ongoing trial” and warned that the procedure would “interfere” in its internal affairs.

Amnesty International’s European director, Nils Muiznieks, hailed the message to Turkey as “crystal clear” and said Kavala’s condition was “an unacceptable violation of the country’s human rights obligations.”

Aisling Reidy, a senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch, called the move “the right way” and called the unprecedented nature of the protest “a recognition of Turkey’s rule of law crisis.”

– “Powerful tool” –

This is only the second time that the Council of Europe is using a so-called criminal process against one of the 47 member states, the first is a lawsuit filed against Azerbaijan in 2017 for refusing to release dissident Ilgar Mammadov.

Mammadov was later released in August 2018 and the trial was closed.

The procedure was established in 2010 to ensure full compliance with ECHR decisions, which are legally binding on the Council of Europe member states and are not advisory in nature.

The story continues

The decision of the Committee of Ministers, which requires a two-thirds majority, officially warns Turkey that its failure to release Kavala will be returned to the ECHR.

Turkey has until January 19 to respond, after which the committee will resubmit the case to the ECHR at its next meeting on February 2.

The ECHR will then decide whether Turkey’s non-compliance with the 2019 decision is another violation.

The next trial in Kavala’s case is scheduled for January 17 in Istanbul.

“This decision is a powerful tool that should be used by all relevant actors to increase pressure on Turkey to put an end to problematic human rights practices,” said Ayşe Bingöl Demir, co-director of the Turkish Cases Support Project.

The Charter of the Council of Europe allows a member state to suspend its right to vote or even expel it as a final sanction. However, the process is still far from reaching this stage.

– “Assault on human dignity” –

Kavala’s arrest has become one of the most symbolic events in Turkey under Erdogan, who has dominated the country for the past two decades but is currently battling a severe economic crisis.

The 64-year-old businessman, originally from Paris, helped finance civil society projects and also sought to reconcile Turkey and Ankara’s neighboring Armenia, which has no diplomatic ties.

Erdogan has repeatedly accused Kavala of being an agent of billionaire financier and pro-democracy George Soros in Turkey and a key player in the 2013 protests over the reconstruction of Istanbul Park.

However, Kavala dismissed Erdogan’s “slanderous” accusations as an “attack on human dignity.”

Turkey’s refusal to release Kavala has also raised tensions with the West.

In October, 10 embassies, including France, Germany and the United States, issued a very unusual statement saying that his detention had “cast a shadow” on Turkey’s democracy and judiciary.

Erdogan later threatened to expel 10 Western ambassadors, but withdrew.

Kavala is accused of financing anti-government protests in 2013 and plotting a coup against Erdogan in 2016. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

bur-sjw / adp / har