ISTANBUL, Turkey — A Turkish court Monday sentenced
leading intellectual and rights campaigner
Osman Kavala to life in jail on
highly controversial coup plot charges that had already seen him locked up
without a conviction for more than four years.
اضافة اعلان
The panel of three judges also sentenced seven other
defendants to 18 years in jail each on charges of aiding the attempt to topple
the government.
The judgment is almost certain to attract a chorus of
condemnation from Turkey's main allies in the
NATO defense alliance.
The court's ruling drew boos from a packed audience that
included Western diplomats who have been trying to stress the importance of
rights issues and judicial independence in their relations with Ankara.
Emma Sinclair-Webb of
Human Rights Watch called it "the
worst possible outcome to this show trial".
"Today, we have witnessed a travesty of justice of
spectacular proportions," Amnesty International's Europe director Nils
Muiznieks added.
Kavala's attorneys immediately vowed to appeal.
'Conspiracy theories'
The Paris-born philanthropist told the court by video link
form his high-security prison near Istanbul that he viewed the entire process
as a "judicial assassination".
"These are conspiracy theories drafted on political and
ideological grounds," Kavala told the court moments before the sentence.
The three judges took less than hour to issue their sentence
in one of
Turkey's most high-profile trials in years.
The marathon hearing has been gnawing on Turkey's strategic
but tempestuous ties with its main Western allies since Kavala's unexpected
arrest in October 2017.
The 64-year-old was then best known as a soft-spoken
businessman who was using a part of his wealth to promote culture and projects
aimed at reconciling Turkey and its arch-nemesis Armenia.
But
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan portrayed him as a
leftist agent of the Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros who was accused
of using foreign money to try and topple the state.
"We can never be together with people like
Kavala," Erdogan declared in 2020.
Alternating charges
Tens of thousands of people ended up being jailed or
stripped of their government jobs in the purges that followed the coup attempt.
But the seemingly arbitrary nature of the alternating
charges filed against Kavala made him into a symbol for international rights
groups — as well as Western governments — of Erdogan's increasing authoritarian
streak in the second decade of his rule.
Kavala was first charged with funding a wave of 2013
protests that some analysts view as the genesis of Erdogan's more authoritarian
streak in the latter half of his 20-year rule.
That count did not stick.
A court acquitted and released him in February 2020 — only
for the police to arrest him before he had a chance to return home to his wife.
Another court then accused him of being involved in the
failed but bloody 2016 coup attempt that unleashed a years-long crackdown in
which tens of thousands were either jailed or stripped of their government
jobs.
Kavala ultimately ended up being charged with both counts.
His treatment prompted the
Council of Europe to launch rare
disciplinary proceedings that could ultimately see Turkey's membership
suspended in the continent's main human rights grouping.
Muted by Ukraine war
Yet the case's importance to Turkey's broader diplomatic
standing has been somewhat muted by
Russia's two-month war in Ukraine.
Erdogan has been leveraging his relatively good ties with
both Moscow and Kyiv to try and mediate an end to the war.
His efforts have already seen a marked improvement in
Ankara's relations with Washington that could soon see Turkey supplied with US
military jets.
Monday's hearing was held in Istanbul at the same time as UN
Secretary General
Antonio Guterres met Erdogan in Ankara before travelling to
Moscow and Kyiv later in the week.
"The secretary-general expressed his support for
Turkey’s on-going diplomatic efforts in relation to the war in Ukraine,"
Guterres's office said after the talks.
Erdogan did not mention Kavala in a national television
address that began moments after the verdict's release.
His office instead said that the Turkish leader planned to
discuss Ukraine with
Russia President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
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