Turkish court upholds life imprisonment for activist Osman Kavala

The United States Department of State is disappointed by the confirmation of the conviction

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A Turkish appeals court has confirmed on Wednesday the life sentence handed down in April against the activist Osman Kavala, accused of financing anti-government companies in 2013 and playing a relevant role in the failed coup attempt in 2016.

Likewise, the court has ratified the sentence of 18 years in prison for seven other defendants for complicity in the crime in the case known as ‘Gezi Park’, as reported by the Turkish news agency Anatolia.

Kavala has been in prison since 2017 awaiting trial on the charges against him and organizations such as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have advocated for his release.

During all this time, Kavala has denied all the charges and his lawyers have come to describe his detention as unfair, based on “political reasons” of an “abstract, baseless and fictitious” nature.

Already in November of last year, when the Turkish Justice decided to prolong the detention of the activist and philanthropist, there were voices critical of his imprisonment and a diplomatic crisis even broke out between Turkey and other Western partners such as the United States and Germany.

At that time, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, even suggested the expulsion of several ambassadors from Ankara for supporting the release of Kavala in a letter.

“DEEPLY CONCERNED AND DISAPPOINTED”

The US State Department has regretted the Turkish appeals court’s decision to uphold Kavala’s life sentence, deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement.

“The United States is deeply concerned and disappointed by a Turkish court’s decision to uphold Osman Kamala’s conviction today,” the letter reads.

“As we have said before, his unjust sentence is incompatible with respect for Human Rights and the rule of law,” Patel reiterated.

Thus, he has once again urged Turkey to release the activist and the rest of the prisoners, alleging compliance with the ECHR rulings.

“The people of Turkey deserve to exercise their Human Rights and fundamental freedoms without fear of reprisals,” the State Department statement concluded.