Turkey rearrests Osman Kavala hours after Gezi Recreation area trial acquittal
19 February, 2020
Turkey's civil culture swung from desire to despair on Tuesday after counter-terror law enforcement detained leading privileges defender Osman Kavala just hours after a court ordered his let go from jail.
Mr Kavala and eight different defendants were acquitted by a good court outside Istanbul in the highly controversial Gezi Recreation area trial.
But within hours, a fresh warrant from the Istanbul prosecutor's office called for his arrest as part of an investigation into a failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's federal government, and under the charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional buy.
After his release from the heavily-guarded prison complex in Silivri outside Istanbul, where he has spent more than 800 days in pretrial detention, the state Anadolu news agency explained Mr Kavala was taken by police to an Istanbul hospital for health checks before being formally detained.
The judge had earlier said there is "not enough concrete evidence" that he and the other defendants sought to overthrow the federal government.
Seven other defendants, who remain on the run, weren't formally acquitted.
Mr Kavala, the just accused kept in jail throughout the trial, faced a lifestyle sentence without parole if convicted for his alleged part in orchestrating the Gezi Recreation area protests of 2013 that presented the first important task to Mr Erdogan, in that case prime minister.
News of a fresh arrest came due to supporters waited for him to come to be released from the Silivri court and prison complex, and was met with shocked silence, even though his wife Ayse Bugra was visibly upset.
Mr Kavala has became a symbol of what critics say is a crackdown on civil culture under Mr Erdogan, and received noisy cheers as he still left the packed courtroom found in Silivri.
The mass protests of 2013 commenced over plans to demolish Gezi Park - among the sole green spaces in Istanbul's centre - but quickly spiralled into broader demonstrations against the federal government.
Critics experience called the Gezi trial "a mockery" in which the prosecution didn't present any proof wrongdoing by the defendants.
And the re-arrest of Mr Kavala on new charges sparked condemnation from rights advocates.
"This is a good vindictive and lawless move, additional demonstrating that Turkey's justice system is under limited political control," Emma Sinclair-Webb, of Human Privileges Watch, told AFP.
Amnesty International slammed the "cynical and outrageous detention" and needed his immediate release.
"This decision smacks of deliberate and calculated cruelty," Amnesty's Turkey campaigner Milena Buyum said in a statement.
"It is period for Turkey to end the relentless crackdown about dissenting voices."
Source: www.thenational.ae
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