|
MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2024)1514/H46-37 |
5 December 2024 |
|
1514th meeting, 3-5 December 2024 (DH)
H46-37 Kavala v. Türkiye (Application No. 28749/18) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference documents |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled the Court’s findings in the Kavala v. Turkey judgment of 10 December 2019, that the applicant’s arrest and pre-trial detention took place in the absence of evidence to support a reasonable suspicion he had committed an offence (violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention) and pursued an ulterior purpose, namely to silence him and dissuade other human rights defenders (violation of Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5 § 1); and that the one year and nearly five months taken by the Constitutional Court to review his complaint was insufficiently “speedy”, given that his personal liberty was at stake (violation of Article 5 § 4); together with the Court’s indication under Article 46 of the Convention that any continuation of the applicant’s pre-trial detention would entail a prolongation of the violations of Article 5 § 1, and of Article 18, as well as a breach of the obligations on the respondent State to abide by the Court’s judgment in accordance with Article 46 § 1, of the Convention, and that in consequence Türkiye was required to take all necessary measures to put an end to the applicant’s detention and to secure his immediate release;
2. recalled further that the Court delivered a judgment under Article 46 § 4 on 11 July 2022 concluding, inter alia, that its finding of a violation of Article 18 taken together with Article 5 in the first Kavala judgment had vitiated any action resulting from the charges against the applicant related to the Gezi Park events and the attempted coup and that the domestic proceedings which resulted in his conviction had not made it possible to remedy the problems identified in the first judgment; and therefore that Türkiye had failed to fulfil its obligation under Article 46 § 1 to abide by the Kavala v. Turkey judgment of 10 December 2019;
3. noted that, under Article 46 § 5 of the Convention, when the Court finds a violation of Article 46 § 1, the case is referred back to the Committee of Ministers for consideration of the measures to be taken; and underlined that, given the exceptional nature of the Court’s findings in its two judgments in this case, Türkiye remains in serious breach of its obligations under the Convention and the principles of the rule of law until Mr Kavala is released;
As regards individual measures
4. welcomed the second high-level technical meeting held in Ankara on 24 October 2024 to discuss a number of avenues available for the implementation of the Kavala judgment, followed by the Secretariat’s visit to Mr Kavala in prison; encouraged the authorities to continue this constructive approach and their high-level technical dialogue with the Secretariat;
5. took note of the three main avenues identified by the Secretariat following the above meetings as having a realistic chance of bringing results in line with the European Court’s judgments, by providing a procedural possibility for a retrial and acquittal, as well as provisional release pending such a retrial;
6. recalling the Committee’s previous decisions and that implementation of the Court’s judgments is a shared responsibility of all authorities, including the judiciary, once again strongly exhortedthe authorities to take all steps in their power to ensure the use of all available avenues to ensure the applicant’s immediate release, including the rapid examination by the Constitutional Court of the applicant’s pending applications, with full regard to the Court’s findings, particularly under Articles 18 and 46 § 4 of the Convention;
7. urged the Turkish authorities in addition to give full consideration to pursuing a friendly settlement of Mr Kavala’s case pending before the European Court.