ECHR Grand Chamber to rule on Osman Kavala case

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is set to deliver a final ruling regarding the second application filed by Osman Kavala, a prominent businessman and civil society activist. The case, titled ‘Kavala v. Turkey (No. 2)’, addresses his continued detention and aggravated life sentence following the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

This follows a 2019 ECHR decision which ruled that Turkey violated Kavala’s rights to liberty and security and failed to comply with the obligation to release him. Despite the court’s previous mandate for his immediate release, Kavala remained in custody, leading the Council of Europe to initiate a rare infringement procedure against Turkey in 2022.

The upcoming decision will evaluate whether subsequent legal proceedings and the finalization of his life sentence by Turkish courts violated the European Convention on Human Rights, specifically concerning the rights to a fair trial, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly.