Turkish activist Kavala's arrest, politically motivated

Othman Kavala is one of the most prominent civil society figures in Turkey. The businessman has contributed to the establishment of several publishing companies in Turkey since the early 1980s, going on to support numerous civil society organizations a decade later.

The 63-year-old entrepreneur and human rights activist Osman Kavala, who has never been convicted of a crime, was previously accused of orchestrating and financing the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul in 2013. He was taken into custody on October 18, 2017, following a meeting with the German Goethe Institute concerning a joint project with Anadolu Kultur.

After two weeks in custody, on November 1, 2017, Kavala was arrested on the charges of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" and "attempting to overthrow the government" and subsequently sent to the maximum-security prison Silivri outside of Istanbul.

He was acquitted in February, but a fresh arrest warrant was issued against him only hours later, this time for a separate case accusing him of being involved in the June 15, 2016, coup attempt. Nearly one month later, he was once again freed from this accusation but was kept in remand detention on the charge of "political or military espionage."

Kavala was kept in prison despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) earlier decision stating that he should be released immediately: the ECHR had ruled on December 10, 2019 that the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated and had therefore ordered Kavala to be released immediately.

The ECHR concluded that Kavala's arrest was based on political motives, without any reasonable evidence backing the accusations. However, Turkish officials did not implement the decision.