Turkish Court Deals New Setback To Rights Leader Kavala

An Istanbul court on Friday overturned the acquittal of leading rights defender Osman Kavala over 2013 anti-government protests, clearing the way for a new trial, local media reported

Istanbul, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Jan, 2021 ) :An Istanbul court on Friday overturned the acquittal of leading rights defender Osman Kavala over 2013 anti-government protests, clearing the way for a new trial, local media reported.

Kavala and eight other defendants were acquitted in February last year in connection with the nationwide demonstration, which delivered the first serious challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule.

But the 63-year-old was immediately re-arrested on fresh charges of espionage and involvement in a failed 2016 coup.

The official Anadolu news agency reported that the Istanbul appeals court overturned the acquittal of Kavala and eight other defendants, referring their case to a lower court.

Kavala's case is closely monitored by rights advocates for signs of a political thawing under Erdogan, who has clamped down on freedoms since surviving the coup attempt.

Kavala has been detained since October 2017 without a formal conviction and Turkish authorities refused to release him despite his acquittal last year.

He faces life in jail if convicted on charges linked to the 2016 coup attempt. The next hearing in the trial is scheduled for February 5.

Erdogan has personally targeted Kavala, once branding him as the "red Soros of Turkey".

The Parisian-born businessman was a founding member of philanthropist George Soros' Open Society Foundation in Turkey.

Erdogan has pledged to give Turkey's courts more independence in order to improve Ankara's relations with the European Union, but he has distanced himself from calls to free Kavala.