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TURKEY-POLITICS-JUSTICE-RIGHTS
Turkey court orders businessman kept in prison: rights group
ISTANBUL, Jan 28, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A Turkish court on Tuesday ordered a
prominent businessman kept in prison, a rights group said, the second ruling
defying a call from Europe’s top rights body for his release.
Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist, is one of 16 people accused
of orchestrating mass anti-government protests in 2013 — charges dubbed a
sham by critics.
In December, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled that
Kavala’s rights were violated by more than two years in detention and
criticised the charges against him.
Turkey must now “take every measure to put an end to the applicant’s
detention and to secure his immediate release,” the court concluded.
But the Turkish court in Silivri on the outskirts of Istanbul ruled Tuesday
that Kavala would remain in jail because the European court’s decision was
not yet certain and that the arrest measure was proportionate, according to
rights group P24.
Kavala has been in jail since November 2017, becoming a symbol of what his
supporters say is a crackdown on civil society.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has linked him to US billionaire George
Soros, whose efforts to promote democracy around the world have made him a
target for several authoritarian leaders.
BSS/AFP/RY/1825 hrs