The European Union delegation to Turkey observed the Gezi court case against businessperson Osman Kavala and others before the Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court, the delegation announced on Monday as the issue continues to cause friction between Ankara and Brussels.
Western diplomats packed a Turkish courtroom to observe the latest stage of a trial of Kavala whose detention has set off a confrontation with Europe's top human rights body.
In a majority vote, the court ruled to keep Kavala in prison during the duration of his trial and announced the next hearing date as Feb. 21. The court also said his detention would be re-evaluated on Feb. 13.
The Council of Europe has given Turkey until Wednesday to either free Kavala or "submit in concise form" its justification for detaining him.
The Strasbourg-based rights body could decide on Feb. 2 to move ahead with rare disciplinary proceedings against Ankara.
The lengthy infringement procedure could ultimately see Turkey lose its voting rights or even get kicked out of the pan-European rights body it first joined in 1950.
Most recently, in December, a Turkish criminal court in Istanbul extended the detention of Kavala. In its decision, the five-member court panel made the ruling by a majority vote, with one member dissenting.
Kavala faces charges over the 2013 Gezi Park protests, a small number of demonstrations in Istanbul that later grew into nationwide riots that left eight protesters and a police officer dead.
The government has characterized the protests as a coup attempt.
Kavala was acquitted of all charges in February 2020, but an appeals court overturned this ruling in January.
He was also accused of involvement in the 2016 defeated coup orchestrated by the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ) in Turkey and was remanded into custody on charges of spying in March.
In October, the embassies of the United States, Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden called for Kavala's release in a joint statement.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of these countries, accusing them of meddling in the Turkish judiciary, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced he had instructed Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to declare the 10 ambassadors as persona non grata. However, the embassies took a step back, preventing the crisis from escalating further.
The diplomatic spat was resolved after the U.S. and several of the other countries issued statements saying they respected the United Nations convention requiring diplomats not to interfere in the host country's domestic affairs.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) called for Kavala's release in late 2019 over a lack of reasonable suspicion that he committed an offense, ruling that his detention served to silence him.
Last month, Turkey urged the Council of Europe not to interfere in the country's independent judiciary and remain impartial toward the country in response to a decision regarding the Kavala case.
The German Embassy in Turkey on Monday issued its statement to the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, Luise Amtsberg, on the continuation of the court hearing against Osman Kavala and his co-defendants on Jan. 17 in Turkey.
“With the continued imprisonment of Osman Kavala, Turkey has been violating its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights for years,” Amtsberg said.
Speaking on infringement measures, Amtsberg added that "it is up to Turkey to avert further steps."
