Acquitted in Gezi Trial, Osman Kavala’s arrest ordered

Meltem AKYOL
İstanbul

With his release awaited, Osman Kavala has been rearrested in relation to the 15 July investigation by Istanbul Republic Chief Prosecution. Having spent 840 days in detention in connection with the Gezi Trial, Kavala was acquitted at the trial held today and his release was ordered. Osman Kavala’s lawyer İlkan Koyuncu said he had gone from Silivri Prison to the judicial complex and tried to find out about the order. For his part, Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz said, “It is impossible to account for all these events with the law.”

Kavala, who is being held under arrest at Istanbul Police Headquarters, is expected to be brought to Çağlayan Judicial Complex within the 24-hour arrest period.

Osman Kavala’s arrest was ordered by Istanbul Republic Chief Prosecution in relation to the 15 July coup attempt investigation. In its statement, the Chief Prosecution recalled that a publicly prosecuted case had been brought on 19 February 2019 in connection with the Gezi Park resistance and under Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 30’s ruling of 18 February the defendants were acquitted and Osman Kavala’s release was ordered. The following was noted in the statement:

“Notification of intent to appeal has been submitted to the court in question with an application for the overturning of the ruling in question and, following the drafting of the grounds for the ruling, recourse will be made to appeal by our Republic Chief Prosecution. Another arrest order has been issued for defendant Kavala, whose release was ordered at the conclusion of the proceedings, in connection with another investigation being conducted by our Chief Prosecution in relation to the 15 July coup attempt on the charge of Attempting to Overthrow the Constitutional Order pursuant to Article 309 of the Turkish Penal Code.”

KAVALA’S LAWYER İLKAN KOYUNCU: INEXPLICABLE DECISION

Osman Kavala’s lawyer İlkan Koyuncu said he had gone from Silivri Prison to the judicial complex. Koyuncu said, “We are trying to find out about it, too. This decision is inexplicable. There is nothing to be explained, this is clear.”

PROF. DR. YAMAN AKDENİZ: INEXPLICABLE WITH THE LAW

Assessing the arrest order for Evrensel, Bilgi University Faculty of Law faculty member Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz spoke of the impossibility of accounting for events with the law.

Akdeniz said, “The tactic being applied to Kavala is not new. A similar playbook was employed for Atilla Taş and Murat Aksoy and they were rearrested at Silivri without being freed despite having been released. Now the power holders, relieved of the Gezi protests and reactions to it and European Court of Human Rights pressure, will this time have brought about Osman Kavala’s rearrest and subsequent detention by playing the 15 July card. In the end, the extent to which our judiciary that today acquits is independent is the extent to which the prosecution that orders arrest is independent. It is impossible to account for all these events with the law.”

PEKİN: THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE PLAYING WITH PEOPLE’S LIVES

Tora Pekin, lawyer of Ali Hakan Altınay, one of today’s acquitted defendants in the Gezi trial, positively fumed at Osman Kavala’s arrest. Pekin commented, “It has emerged today that the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor has kept a file in waiting in relation to an event that took place three and a half years earlier (15 July Coup Attempt) just in case Osman Kavala was released. Kavala was released and the stashed-away file has come into play. For sure someone will and should ask Chief Prosecutor İrfan Fidan why no procedures were conducted against one who in any case had been in prison for two years over these two years, and why they held back as if setting a trap for an enemy. Unlawful and politically motivated detentions have today become the judiciary’s trademark and this is the Turkish judiciary’s shame. Nobody is entitled and authorized to play with people’s lives in this manner.”

“RULING IS UNLAWFUL”

According to a report by Mesopotamia Agency, Tora Pekin, one of the lawyers in the Gezi trial which he says exceeded the bounds of the law inquired, “It is not easy to make a legal interpretation. Istanbul Chief Prosecution, whose function has become totally divorced from the law, has fully ruptured its connection with the law. I mean, why did you move into action like this immediately following today’s acquittal order and wait until the day two-year detainee Osman Kavala was to be released?”

Stating that the file had been kept in waiting for use today, Pekin asked, “I mean, the sole ruling that has been passed in the Gezi trial in these proceedings was today’s acquittal order. Apart from this, there has not actually been any legal decision or procedure. Today’s proceedings were unlawful from start to finish but at the outcome the only correct decision was the acquittal order. Now this rearrest order similarly appears and screams from the rooftops as being an unlawful decision.”

NINE ACQUITTALS IN THE GEZI TRIAL

The sixth hearing of the Gezi Trial, in which sixteen people, one detained, stood charged of “attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey,” was heard before Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 30 in Silivri. The bench announced its judgment. In the absence of legally compliant evidence that the imputed crimes had been committed by the defendants, it ordered the acquittal of nine people and Osman Kavala’s release. An order was further made for the separation of the cases of seven people who are abroad and the annulment of the apprehension orders against them if no other orders are outstanding against them.

Recalling that proceedings had been brought against Osman Kavala, Mücella Yapıcı, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, Ali Hakan Altınay, Yiğit Aksakoğlu, Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, Çiğdem Mater Utku and Mine Özerden on the counts of “attempting through the use of force and violence to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey or fully or partially prevent it from performing its duty,” “damaging property,” “aggravated looting,” “unauthorized possession or transfer of hazardous substances,” “intentional wounding,” “aggravated wounding” and “violation of the Law on the Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets,” the bench ordered acquittal in the absence of “legally compliant concrete and compelling evidence sufficient for conviction that the imputed crimes were committed.” The court ordered Osman Kavala’s acquittal and release. Ordering the separation of Can Dündar, Mehmet Ali Alabora, Ayşe Pınar Alabora, Gökçe Tüylüoğlu, Handan Meltem Arıkan, Hanzade Hikmet Germiyanoğlu and İnanç Ekmekçi’s cases, the court also annulled the apprehension orders against them. The court imposed an apprehension order with a view to their statements being taken.