STRASBOURG (AFP) – The Council of Europe said Friday it will launch disciplinary action against Turkey for refusing to free activist Osman Kavala, triggering a procedure used only once before in the organization’s history.
The pan-European rights body’s committee of ministers agreed the move over Turkey’s repeated refusal to comply with a 2019 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights to release Kavala from prison, it said.
It comes as concern grows over rights abuses in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader has repeatedly in speeches personally targeted Kavala, who has now been in jail for over four years without ever being convicted of a crime.
“By failing to ensure the applicant’s immediate release, the committee considers that Turkey is refusing to abide by the court’s final judgment in this case,” the COE said.
The Turkish foreign ministry had urged the COE on Thursday not to begin the action “out of respect for the ongoing judicial process,” warning that the procedure would be “interference” in its domestic affairs.
Amnesty International’s Europe Director Nils Muiznieks welcomed the message to Turkey over the case as “crystal clear”.
“Turkey’s failure to ensure the immediate release of Osman Kavala and end his politically motivated prosecution is an unacceptable breach of the country’s human rights obligations,” he said.
Turkey, a member of the COE since 1950, is like all member states obliged to abide by the European Convention on Human Rights, which the ECHR oversees.
The decision by the committee of ministers, which required a two-thirds majority, puts Turkey under formal notice that its failure to release Kavala will be referred back to the ECHR.
The jailing of Kavala has become one of the most emblematic cases in Turkey under Erdogan, who has dominated the country for the last two decades but is now battling a severe economic crisis.
The 64-year-old Paris-born businessman helped finance civil society projects.
Erdogan has repeatedly accused Kavala of being the agent in Turkey of billionaire financier and pro-democracy campaigner George Soros and being the key player in 2013 protests over the redevelopment of an Istanbul park which rattled the Turkish strongman.