Strasbourg condemns Turkey's refusal to comply with Kavala's sentence

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today found that Turkey is refusing to comply with its 2019 ruling ordering the release of activist and businessman Osman Kavala, following an appeal by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers over that failure.

The Committee of Ministers will now take up the matter to ensure that "the necessary measures" are taken to ensure that the sentence is "fully implemented", the Council of Europe said in a statement. The Council of Europe is an organisation whose mission is to defend human rights and the rule of law.

In the judgment, the Strasbourg Court's Grand Chamber emphasised that "the measures indicated by Turkey do not permit the conclusion that it has acted in good faith, in a manner consistent with the findings and spirit of the Kavala judgment".

The ruling, which went ahead by 16 votes to one (that of the Turkish judge Saadet Yüksel), implies a violation of article 46.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, by which the member countries of the Council of Europe undertake to comply with the judgments of the ECtHR when they are final.

In his dissenting opinion, Yüksel argues that the offences for which Kavala remains in prison are different from those that led to Turkey's conviction in Strasbourg.

Kavala is known in Turkey as "the red billionaire" for his involvement in social and cultural initiatives in defence of human rights. Imprisoned since October 2017, he was sentenced in April to life imprisonment for attempting to overthrow the government for his involvement in the 2013 protests.

The European judges note in their ruling that, despite three domestic court decisions ordering his release on bail and one acquittal, Kavala has been remanded in custody after more than four years on "insufficient suspicion to justify the offence".

In their 2019 judgment, they already underlined that his imprisonment had taken place without sufficient evidence and that the aim was to "reduce him to silence and to deter other human rights defenders".

After more than two years of non-compliance with this ruling, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe - the decision-making body - approved last February to open infringement proceedings against Turkey, which is what the ECHR has now validated.

The Kavala case is the second in which the pan-European organisation of 46 member states has opened infringement proceedings against one of its members.

In 2017 it was against Azerbaijan, which refused to release dissident Ilegar Mammadov, as required by an ECHR ruling. Shortly afterwards, the Azeri authorities ordered the release of the dissident from prison and the payment of compensation.

The head of Irish diplomacy, Simon Voveney, who now chairs the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, together with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Tiny Kox, and the Secretary General, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, reiterated their call for Turkey to release Kavala.

They also warned that the Committee of Ministers will monitor the implementation of the court's ruling "until the sentence is fully executed".