Istanbul, Sept. 29, (dpa/GNA) – Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a life sentence against prominent philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala for “attempting to overthrow the government” with the 2013 Gezi Park protests, state news agency Anadolu reported.
The court separately upheld 18 years in jail for four other suspects, including Can Atalay, who was in May elected as a lawmaker, for aiding the attempt, the report added.
Already jailed, Atalay has been unable to leave prison to take his oath in parliament.
Meanwhile, the court dropped charges against three other defendants, two of whom were already jailed. They are expected to be released, Anadolu said.
The police crackdown on Gezi Park demonstrators in Istanbul in 2013 triggered nationwide anti-government protests, representing the largest such mobilization against then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kavala has been in custody since 2017. Western governments and rights groups had criticized the Gezi trial and the 2022 conviction as politically motivated.
In 2018, Erdogan publicly accused Kavala of financing the Gezi protests with backing from US-Hungarian investor and philanthropist George Soros. He has repeatedly called the protests an international conspiracy.
Kavala denies the allegations.
Thursday’s decision is “a monstrous abuse of the justice system,” Emma Sinclair-Webb, Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia associate director, wrote on X.
GNA