Top appeals court upholds five convictions in Gezi Park trial

ANKARA

Türkiye's highest appeals court has affirmed the life sentence for businessman Osman Kavala, who has been incarcerated since 2017, in connection with the 2013 Gezi Park protests, while overturning 18-year prison terms for three co-defendants.

Kavala, 65, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April 2022, a verdict stemming from his alleged involvement in organizing and financing nationwide protests in 2013.

During those protests, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Istanbul and across Türkiye to oppose plans to construct a replica of Ottoman barracks in Istanbul's Gezi Park. What began as localized demonstrations eventually swelled into a widespread movement against the government.

The legal process for Kavala began when he was first charged with funding the protests. A court acquitted and released him in February 2020, but he was promptly arrested by the police before he could return home. Subsequently, another court accused him of participating in the failed 2016 coup attempt, leading to Kavala facing both sets of charges.

The penultimate decision found Kavala guilty of the charges he had been cleared of in 2020. The Constitutional Court had previously rejected Kavala's appeal as well.

The latest ruling effectively concludes the appeals process for Kavala. The European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled that Türkiye must release Kavala and others involved in the case due to violations of their rights.

Alongside Kavala, the court also upholded the 18-year sentences for four additional individuals involved in the case — Can Atalay, a newly elected member of parliament from the Workers' Party of Türkiye (TİP); former Chamber of Urban Planners executive Tayfun Kahraman; and filmmakers Mine Özerden and Çiğdem Mater Utku.

The decision further suggested that Atalay and Kahraman should have received "aggravated life imprisonment like Kavala."

However, the court overturned the 18-year prison sentences for former Chamber of Architects official Mücella Yapıcı, Hakan Altınay, the founding director of the Open Society Foundation in Türkiye, and activist Yiğit Ekmekçi.

Atalay's recent election to the parliament in May led to his lawyers' request to halt the trial and release him, but the Supreme Court rejected the application. In response to the latest upheld sentences, TİP leader Erkan Baş announced a march from Hatay to the capital Ankara on Oct. 1.