Historic judgment against Türkiye for failing to implement judgment of the European Court (Kavala v Türkiye)
/The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has handed down a historic judgment in proceedings initiated by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers against Türkiye for its failure to implement judgement from the Court in relation to imprisoned human rights defender, Osman Kavala.
Today, in Kavala v. Türkiye the Court found that Türkiye failed to fulfil its obligation under Article 46(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights to comply with its judgment issued on 10 December 2019. The Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, and Human Rights Watch today welcomed the judgment, as an important step towards accountability for Türkiye’s systemic disregard for the Convention system and as recognition of the urgency of implementing the Court’s order to release human rights defender Osman Kavala. The two organizations -joined by the International Commission of Jurists- had repeatedly recommended infringement proceedings be brought against Türkiye for its failure to comply with the judgment in Kavala’s case, which epitomises the evisceration of respect for human rights in Turkey today. Their submissions to the Committee of Ministers are available here and here.
In its judgment announced today, the Court held that “Türkiye has failed to fulfil its obligation under Article 46§1 to abide by the Kavala v. Türkiye judgment of 10 December 2019”. The European Court underlined that “it’s finding of a violation of Article 18 taken together with Article 5 in the Kavala judgment had vitiated any action resulting from the charges related to the Gezi Park events and the attempted coup. It is nonetheless clear that the domestic proceedings subsequent to the above judgment, which resulted first in an acquittal and then a conviction, have not made it possible to remedy the problems identified in the Kavala judgment” (para. 172).
“This is the only second time -after Mammadov v. Azerbaijan- the ECtHR has ever conducted infringement proceedings and determined that a member state has not complied with a European Court judgment. It is an acknowledgement of Türkiye’s ever-deepening rule of law crisis which has involved seriously undermining the Convention system and the escalating use of criminal law for political purposes ” said Helen Duffy of the Turkey Litigation Support Project.
In the judgment of 10 December 2019, the Court held that Kavala was prosecuted and held in pretrial detention since November 2017 on the basis of his human rights activities. The court found that the Turkish authorities had pursued an ulterior purpose of silencing Kavala as a human rights defender and that by using detention for political ends Türkiye had violated Kavala’s right to liberty and security (article 5), and prohibition from restricting the Convention rights for the purposes other than those allowed under the Convention (article 18).
Although in the December 2019 judgment the Court ordered Kavala’s immediate release as a first step to implement the judgment, the Turkish authorities have ignored the court’s legally binding ruling. In its supervision of the judgment implementation process, the Committee of Ministers took numerous steps calling for Kavala’s release and the full restoration of his rights to ensure implementation (see, among others, here, here and here).
As the three NGOs made clear to the Committee of Ministers in pressing for infringement proceedings, and Mr Kavala’s counsel pleaded before the Court (paras. 118-124), the Turkish courts and prosecutors, on the other hand, have engaged in a series of tactics to circumvent the authority of the European Court and the Council of Europe. They have issued sham release orders, initiated multiple criminal proceedings against Kavala on the same facts, disjoined and re-joined case files accusing him of bogus offenses. The Grand Chamber judgment addresses these practices of the Turkish authorities by stating that “the measures indicated by Türkiye do not permit it to conclude that the State Party acted in ‘good faith’, in a manner compatible with the ‘conclusions and spirit’ of the Kavala judgment, or in a way that would make practical and effective the protection of the Convention rights which the Court found to have been violated in that judgment ” (para. 173).
Most recently, after having spent four-and-a-half years in detention on baseless charges, Kavala was sentenced to life in prison without parole on charges of attempting to overthrow the government on 25 April 2022 by an Istanbul assize court. The charges refer to his alleged leading role in mass protests in 2013 that began in Istanbul’s Gezi Park (for a detailed explanatory note on Kavala case see here).
“The Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Kavala v. Türkiye is a further demonstration of Türkiye’s persistent failure to respect its international human rights obligations, and that implementation of the court’s judgments is key to the effectiveness of the European human rights system” said Aisling Reidy, Senior Legal Adviser at Human Rights Watch. “As the European Court has now confirmed Türkiye’s failure to execute the Kavala judgment of 10 December 2019, the Committee of Ministers needs urgently to take all feasible measures to ensure the judgement is respected and Kavala released” she continued.
The Committee of Ministers is expected to resume its supervision process and take more robust steps to discharge its mandate of ensuring the necessary individual and general measures are taken by Türkiye to implement the court’s ruling. “Once again, we call for the immediate release of Osman Kavala, cleared of all charges.” said Helen Duffy, “the Grand Chamber’s judgment finding violation sends an important signal to Türkiye that it cannot use judicial tactics to evade its international obligations, including bringing forward multiple criminal proceedings on the same facts or handing down prison sentences based on non-Convention compliant charges.”
For more information, please contact (English, Turkish): info@turkeylitigationsupport.com
