Osman Kavala has spent 3,301 days in prison: ECtHR Grand Chamber rules rights violation

As of 14 November 2026, Osman Kavala has spent 3,301 days in prison. According to a chronology compiled by Diken, Kavala, a civil society and human rights activist, was detained in Gaziantep on 18 October 2017 and taken to Istanbul; the reason for the detention was not initially known, and it was said that the investigation was being conducted confidentially. Kavala was arrested on 1 November and sent to Silivri Prison. Two grounds were cited for the arrest: "attempting to eliminate the government" in the context of the Gezi protests, and "attempting to eliminate the constitutional order" in the context of the 15 July coup attempt.

The indictment concerning the Gezi protests was prepared on 19 February 2019. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on 10 December 2019 that Kavala should be released immediately. Kavala appeared at the sixth hearing on 18 February 2020 in detention; at that hearing, Kavala and eight other defendants were acquitted and ordered released. But immediately afterwards, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that there was a detention order in the case being conducted on the charge of "attempting to eliminate the constitutional order" in the context of the coup attempt. Although a release decision had been issued in that investigation in October 2019, Kavala was arrested again on 19 February 2020; on 9 March 2020 he was arrested within the scope of the same case, this time on the charge of "political or military espionage".

The Constitutional Court rejected the application Kavala filed on 4 May 2020 on 29 December 2020, by eight votes to seven in the 15-member panel. The Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court, at its final hearing on 25 April 2022, sentenced Kavala to aggravated life imprisonment for "attempting to eliminate the government"; one member judge on the panel cast a dissenting vote. At the same hearing, Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman and Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi were each sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered arrested. The Court of Cassation upheld Kavala's aggravated life sentence on 28 September 2023; the 18-year sentences of Atalay, Kahraman, Özerden and Mater Utku were also upheld, while the 18-year sentences handed down to Altınay, Ekmekçi and Yapıcı were overturned.

The ECtHR Grand Chamber ruled on Kavala's second application on 25 August 2026 and held that Articles 5 and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. According to Diken's note, Article 5 governs the right to liberty and security, while Article 18 sets out the limits on the restriction of rights.