European court orders Osman Kavala's release

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ordered the immediate release of Turkish human rights defender Osman Kavala. The court ruled this week that his nearly nine-year imprisonment is unlawful and stems from a politically motivated trial, declaring his criminal conviction null and void.

Türkiye has already defied two previous binding rulings from the ECtHR in Kavala's case. Amnesty International, which declared Kavala and six co-defendants prisoners of conscience in 2022, states that Turkish authorities have continued to flagrantly obstruct justice with little consequence.

A politically motivated trial

Kavala was detained in 2017 in what became known as the Gezi Park trial. He and his co-defendants were first acquitted in February 2020. The judges who acquitted them soon faced disciplinary proceedings. Instead of release, Kavala faced new charges based on the same evidence.

In April 2022, he was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment without parole. By that point, he had already been imprisoned for four and a half years. Prosecuting authorities failed to provide substance to the baseless charges against him.

Stefan Simanowitz of Amnesty International says the case shows how the judiciary has been weaponized against dissent. "The case is emblematic of how the judiciary has been weaponized in the crackdown against real and perceived dissent," he stated.

A wider crackdown on rights

Kavala is not alone. Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, former leaders of the People’s Democratic Party, remain imprisoned despite ECtHR release orders. Taner Kılıç, Amnesty Türkiye’s Honorary Chair, and İdil Eser, its former director, were tried with nine others on baseless terrorism charges. All were eventually acquitted.

Simanowitz describes this as "part of a wider ongoing authoritarian crackdown which has seen concerted efforts to crush political opposition, silence dissent, and severely limit the space for civil society to act."

Repressive legislation has targeted civil society. The independence of the judiciary is compromised. Domestic courts are weaponized. Binding international court decisions are ignored.

The assault is unrelenting. Hundreds were arrested before last month's NATO summit. The first hearing in the trial of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and 413 other defendants lasted four months. İmamoğlu faces a possible 2,352 years in prison if found guilty.

Rights to assembly, association, and expression face sustained attack through arbitrary restrictions and blanket bans. Law enforcement subjects peaceful protesters to unlawful force and ill-treatment. For two years after the 2016 coup attempt, Türkiye was the world's biggest jailer of journalists.

Restrictions continue despite court rulings. The weekly vigils of the Saturday Mothers/People, relatives of enforced disappearance victims, remain restricted despite Constitutional Court orders. A 13-day blanket ban on protests accompanied the July NATO summit in Ankara. Over 200 people were held in pretrial detention ahead of it.

A test for the European system

The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers has adopted decisions calling for Kavala's immediate release. The Council of Europe, including its Parliamentary Assembly and Secretary General, is urged to use all tools to secure implementation.

Stefan Simanowitz calls Kavala's case "a litmus test for the European system of human rights protection." He warns that if Türkiye fails to implement this third judgment, the Council of Europe's purpose of upholding human rights would be dangerously undermined.

More than ten years after the failed coup attempt, the distance Türkiye has travelled along an authoritarian path is stark. The direction is reversible, but authorities show no intent to shift. The European Convention system now faces a defining test.