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Turkish rights defender Kavala re-arrested after acquittal
[Rudaw]  ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...'s civil society swung from hope to despair Tuesday after counter-terror police detained leading rights defender Osman Kavala just hours after a court ordered his release from jail. Kavala and eight other defendants were acquitted by a court outside Istanbul in the highly controversial "Gezi Park" trial. But within hours, a new warrant from the Istanbul prosecutor's office called for his arrest as part of an investigation into a failed 2016 coup against President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... 's government, and under the charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. After his release from the heavily-guarded prison complex in Silivri outside Istanbul, where he has spent more than 800 days in pre-trial detention, the official Anadolu news agency said Kavala was taken by police to an Istanbul hospital for health checks before being formally detained. The judge had earlier said there was "not enough concrete evidence" that he and the other defendants sought to overthrow the government. Seven other defendants, who remain on the run, were not formally acquitted. Kavala, the only defendant kept in jail throughout the trial, faced a life sentence without parole if convicted for his alleged role in orchestrating the "Gezi Park" protests of 2013 that presented the first major challenge to Erdogan, then prime minister. News of a fresh arrest came as supporters waited for him to be released from the Silivri court and prison complex, and was met with shocked silence, while his wife Ayse Bugra was visibly upset. Kavala has became a symbol of what critics say is a crackdown on civil society under Erdogan, and received loud cheers as he left the packed courtroom in Silivri. Kavala's supporters say he was targeted because he worked to build bridges across Turkey's often fractious ethnic and social divides, in contrast to the combative rhetoric favoured by Erdogan's ruling party. Posted by: trailing wife 2020-02-20 |
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