CoE starts infringement proceedings against Turkey over Kavala’s imprisonment

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has officially launched infringement proceedings against Turkey because of its failure to release businessperson and rights advocate Osman Kavala despite a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgment.

With a majority vote, the committee decided to refer the case to the ECtHR, which will decide whether Ankara has abided by its ruling and fulfilled its obligations as a party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

If Turkey is found to be in violation, the committee will decide on what sanctions will be imposed on it.

This was the second time that the Committee of Ministers gave such a decision. The first one was against Azerbaijan over the imprisonment of Ilgar Mammadov, an opposition politician.

After the proceedings started, Mammadov was released on probation in August 2018 and the country’s high court reduced his sentence in March 2019, which ended the probationary period.

The CoE then suspended the infringement proceedings.