A Turkish court ordered Monday to keep jailed businessperson Osman Kavala in prison and is expected to give a verdict next month, 4 1/2 years after he was detained, in a trial that has caused tensions between Ankara and its Western allies.
The court had been widely expected to reach a verdict on Monday, but defense lawyers had requested more time to respond to the prosecutor's final opinion on the case and the judge set a date of April 22 for what was likely to be the final hearing.
Kavala was detained on Oct. 18, 2017, and faced charges over the 2013 Gezi Park protests, a small number of demonstrations in Istanbul that later transformed into nationwide riots, which left eight protesters and a police officer dead. He was acquitted of all charges in February 2020, but an appeals court overturned this verdict later.
He was also accused of involvement in the 2016 defeated coup orchestrated by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in Turkey and was remanded in custody on charges of spying.
Last month, the Council of Europe launched rare disciplinary action against Turkey over the case, which Ankara denounced as interference.
The Council of Europe said its committee referred Kavala's case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to determine whether Turkey has failed to meet its obligation to implement the court's previous judgment that he should be released immediately issued more than two years ago.
The move is the next step in "infringement proceedings," which could result in Turkey's suspension from the Council of Europe, of which it is a founding member.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan subsequently said when asked about the decision that Turkey will not respect the Council of Europe if it does not respect Turkish courts.
The ECtHR called for Kavala's release in late 2019 over a lack of reasonable suspicion that he had committed an offense, ruling that his detention served to silence him.
Turkey urged the Council of Europe not to interfere in the country's independent judiciary and to be impartial toward the country in response to the decision regarding the Kavala case.
Kavala said last October he would not defend himself in court because he lost faith in a fair trial after his case sparked a diplomatic spat.
Ankara nearly expelled 10 Western countries' envoys, including the United States and major European powers, after they made an appeal for Kavala's release last October.
The Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of these countries, accusing them of meddling in the Turkish judiciary, while President 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 to not interfere in the host country's domestic affairs.
Kavala previously attended hearings via a video link from prison.
In his final opinion on March 4, the prosecutor requested that Kavala be found guilty of "attempting to overthrow" the government.
If convicted, Kavala faces an aggravated life sentence, which has tougher terms of detention.
Kavala denies the claims and has branded the charges in the indictment as "politically motivated."
Turkey faces infringement proceedings by the Council of Europe, the second time the body has taken such action, the first occasion in 2017 against Azerbaijan over its refusal to release a dissident.
