It is a shame: Unjustly imprisoned Kavala now portrayed as ‘villain’ in a TRT show

Turkey’s state-owned broadcaster has sparked controversy with its new series centered around Osman Kavala, a prominent businessperson and human rights advocate who has been imprisoned for nearly six years.

Osman Kavala is a Turkish human rights defender and philanthropist who has been detained for several years. Here are some key points about his case:

– Kavala was detained for exercising his rights under the European Convention[1].
– He was sentenced to life in prison without parole on charges of attempting to overthrow the government and his seven co-defendants to 18 years on charges of aiding and abetting. The charges refer to their alleged leading roles in mass protests in 2013 that began in Istanbul’s Gezi Park[2][3].
– The European Court of Human Rights found that Kavala’s right to liberty was violated and was underpinned by the government’s intention[4].
– Amnesty International has called for Kavala’s immediate release following a binding infringement ruling[4].
– Kavala’s case has become a litmus test of Turkey’s standing in Europe, and Ankara’s ongoing refusal to implement ECHR rulings to release a human rights defender who is unlawfully detained has put the country on a collision course with the remaining 45 members of the Council of Europe[5].
– Kavala has already spent more than four years in prison without being convicted. He was found guilty of charges related to the nationwide protests in 2013 and the failed coup attempt in 2016. Kavala denied the charges and has accused the government of “judicial assassination”[6].

Citations:
[1] https://www.osmankavala.org/en/statements-about-osman-kavala/1714-an-explanatory-note-on-the-case-of-osman-kavala-v-turkey
[2] https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/26/turkey-life-sentence-rights-defender-osman-kavala
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/25/world/europe/turkey-court-conviction-osman-kavala-mucella-yapici.html
[4] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/07/turkey-release-prisoner-of-conscience-osman-kavala-immediately-following-binding-infringement-ruling/
[5] https://www.politico.eu/article/human-rights-the-fate-of-osman-kavala-matters-europen-court-echr-turkey/
[6] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61218241

By Perplexity at https://www.perplexity.ai/search/619cdfb1-a5d1-40a0-a79d-1e8dad5e3040