Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) "a structure far from the principles of justice" that delivers politically motivated rulings.
"The ECHR is far from the principles of justice, it makes politically motivated rulings. The world community understands once and for all that the Republic of Turkey is not a state on the side of "dark forces." Certain circles are trying to use the Turkish judiciary as a tool for criminal organizations. We will not allow this to happen," Anadolu agency quotes the Turkish president.
In July 2022 the Strasbourg Court ruled that Turkey violated the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of human rights activist Osman Kavala and ordered to pay 7.5 thousand euros legal costs to Kavala. Earlier, the ECHR concluded that the prosecution of Kavala was politically motivated, and demanded his release.
After that, the Turkish MFA said that the decision of the Grand Chamber of the ECHR has once again called into question the credibility of the human rights protection system in Europe.
Turkish authorities accused Kavala of participation in the protests in the Istanbul park Gezi in 2013, as well as in an attempted coup in 2016. In February this year, the human rights activist was acquitted in the "Istanbul case," but at the same time he was arrested on charges of participating in an attempted coup d'etat. On 25 April, the Istanbul criminal court sentenced Kavala to life imprisonment. In May, his lawyers were denied appeals against his conviction.
The US and several other countries as well as international human rights organizations condemned Kavala's conviction by the Turkish court and called for his release.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS