Hours After Acquittal, Turkish Rights Activist Osman Kavala Re-Arrested.

Prosecutors on Tuesday demanded the re-arrest of Turkish businessman Osman Kavala in connection with the failed 2016 coup, hours after he was acquitted over his alleged role in the Gezi Park protests of 2013, a document seen by Reuters showed.
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The acquittal of Kavala and eight others over the demonstrations that posed a major challenge to then-premier, now president Tayyip Erdogan was surprising in a case that had drawn criticism from Western allies and rights groups.
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The fresh detention request by Istanbul prosecutors came as scores of people including lawmakers, other defendants and supporters were waiting for Kavala to be released at a roadside restaurant near the Silivri prison complex where he was held.
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“It was…Erdogan who ordered the arrest of Kavala, and it was him who ordered his release today. We have been waiting for his release for 5 hours, and now they are making up charges related to the coup,” said pro-Kurdish HDP lawmaker Garo Paylan.
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“Nobody is safe against this judicial cruelty in Turkey. I am seriously worried about arbitrary judicial decisions and trumped up charges,” he added. There was no immediate update from judicial authorities on Kavala’s status.
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In court earlier, applause erupted and some people cried in disbelief when the decision was announced. A guilty verdict had been widely expected in the case, regarded as a test of justice in Turkey.
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Kavala, also a prominent philanthropist, was ordered to be set free after more than two years in jail. The European Court of Human Rights in December demanded his immediate release, saying there was a lack of reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime.
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“Of course today’s decision is the right one (but) this has been a sham process. We’ve seen Turkey’s justice system turned into an absurd, cruel theatre,” Human Rights Watch Turkey director Emma Sinclair-Webb told Reuters.
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In 2013, hundreds of thousands marched in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey against plans approved by Erdogan to build a replica Ottoman barracks in the city’s Gezi Park.
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Eight young protesters and a police officer were killed and 5,000 people were injured in the unrest.
[4:53 PM, 2/18/2020] Van Der-Megerdichian: reutersProsecutors on Tuesday demanded the re-arrest of Turkish businessman Osman Kavala in connection with the failed 2016 coup, hours after he was acquitted over his alleged role in the Gezi Park protests of 2013, a document seen by Reuters showed.
–
The acquittal of Kavala and eight others over the demonstrations that posed a major challenge to then-premier, now president Tayyip Erdogan was surprising in a case that had drawn criticism from Western allies and rights groups.
–
The fresh detention request by Istanbul prosecutors came as scores of people including lawmakers, other defendants and supporters were waiting for Kavala to be released at a roadside restaurant near the Silivri prison complex where he was held.
–
“It was…Erdogan who ordered the arrest of Kavala, and it was him who ordered his release today. We have been waiting for his release for 5 hours, and now they are making up charges related to the coup,” said pro-Kurdish HDP lawmaker Garo Paylan.
–
“Nobody is safe against this judicial cruelty in Turkey. I am seriously worried about arbitrary judicial decisions and trumped up charges,” he added. There was no immediate update from judicial authorities on Kavala’s status.
–
In court earlier, applause erupted and some people cried in disbelief when the decision was announced. A guilty verdict had been widely expected in the case, regarded as a test of justice in Turkey.
–
Kavala, also a prominent philanthropist, was ordered to be set free after more than two years in jail. The European Court of Human Rights in December demanded his immediate release, saying there was a lack of reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime.
–
“Of course today’s decision is the right one (but) this has been a sham process. We’ve seen Turkey’s justice system turned into an absurd, cruel theatre,” Human Rights Watch Turkey director Emma Sinclair-Webb told Reuters.
–
In 2013, hundreds of thousands marched in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey against plans approved by Erdogan to build a replica Ottoman barracks in the city’s Gezi Park.
–
Eight young protesters and a police officer were killed and 5,000 people were injured in the unrest.
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H/T Reuters