On April 25 a Turkish court sentenced Osman Kavala, prominent Turkish businessman and philanthropist, to life in prison without parole for “attempting to overthrow the government by force” on the charge of organizing the 2013 Gezi protests. Seven other activists were sentenced to 18 years for allegedly aiding Kavala. Gezi protests, which broke out in 2013 over government plans to raze a public park in order to construct a shopping mall, soon transformed into massive anti-government protests. Since then, Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly portrayed the protests as an insurrection and accused the defendants of stirring the protests to topple the government.
Controversial verdict
The court case against Gezi protests counts as one of the most egregious and partisan prosecutions conducted during Erdoğan’s rule. The defendants were initially acquitted of all charges by a penal court in 2020. However, after Erdoğan’s criticism of the 2020 ruling, the court of appeals overturned the verdict, thereby paving the way to a second trial. The harsh sentences mark some of the most severe crackdowns on freedom of assembly in Turkey over the past decade and demonstrate the total capitulation of …read more
Source:: German Institute for International and Security Affairs
