Osman Kavala, the only detained suspect in the combined Gezi Park and Çarşı cases, was decided to continue in detention by a majority of votes in the monthly detention review. A judge voted against, the next hearing will be on February 21.

Osman Kavala’s monthly detention was reviewed by the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court today. The court decided to continue Kavala’s detention with a majority of votes. In its justification, the court stated, “Considering that there has been no change in the legal situation since the last-dated evaluation, the nature of the crime charged to the accused Mehmet Osman Kavala, the stage of the trial, the analysis of the HTS records in the file, and the BAZ information, and the analysis of the digital materials. The reports, the upper limit of the penalty stipulated in the law, the judicial control measures were understood to be insufficient, and decided to continue the detention with a majority of votes.

A JUDGE VOTED AGAINST

The member judge, who had previously voted for Kavala to be released with a judicial control measure, again voted against. The reason for the dissenting vote is that the defense of the accused has been taken, the evidence has been collected, the scope of the file, the stage of the file, there is no possibility of darkening the evidence after this stage, the time the accused has spent in detention, the detention is a precaution, the desired purpose in detention can be achieved by applying one or more of the judicial control measures. I do not agree with the view of the majority regarding the continuation of his unreasonable detention, and I am of the opinion that he should be released under judicial control.

Next hearing:

In the last hearing held on January 17, at the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court, the court decided to continue Kavala’s detention with a majority of votes. Kavala’s next hearing will be held on February 21.

Osman Kavala has been in detention since 1 November 2017.