Cultural promoter and human rights activist Osman Kavala has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the so-called Gezi trial in Istanbul.
In addition to Kavala, other well-known defendants were also on trial in the proceedings. Kavala is the only one in prison and has been in custody for about four and a half years.
The original indictment for the trial accused Kavala of attempted coup in connection with the 2013 Gezi protests and “political and military espionage” in connection with the 2016 coup attempt.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ordered Kavala’s release in 2019 and classified the detention as politically motivated. Because of the imprisonment of the human rights activist, the Council of Europe has initiated expulsion proceedings against Turkey.
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