Mehmet Osman Kavala v. Turkey (Application no. 28749/18)

TLSP and PEN International submitted written comments on 16 January 2019 as third party interveners in the case of Mehmet Osman Kavala v. Turkey (Application no. 28749/18) concerning pre-trial detention of a prominent civil society leader, publisher and human rights defender (HRD). The submission provides the Court with an outline of the factual context in respect of the situation of HRDs in Turkey. It addresses international standards governing the nature of states obligations towards HRDs and reflects on principles of human rights and criminal law that constrain a rule of law approach to resort to criminal law.

Our written comments are available here. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights also intervened in this case on 20 December 2018. Her submission can be found here.