Turkey Rearrests Acquitted Philanthropist After Erdogan Backlash

(Bloomberg) -- Osman Kavala, the philanthropist and businessman who was acquitted on Tuesday of attempting to overthrow Turkey’s government through mass protests, was rearrested on a separate charge of taking part in the July 2016 failed coup.

The detention followed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s harsh criticism of Tuesday’s ruling. A court in Istanbul took Kavala back into custody late Wednesday for “attempting to abolish the constitutional order,” state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Kavala, who spent more than two years in jail on accusations of organizing the 2013 Gezi Park protests, wasn’t freed after his surprise acquittal. Instead, a prosecutor issued a detention warrant for his alleged role in the coup attempt, which Erdogan says was masterminded by followers of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who denies the charge.

The Turkish leader has portrayed Kavala as a major force beind the protests that threatened his rule, and his acquittal came at a time when speculation is percolating of another coup in the making.

In his deposition, Kavala rejected the latest accusation, saying the continuation of his arrest “constitutes an extraordinary violation of rights.”

The 2013 anti-government protests, which spread from Istanbul to dozens of Turkish cities with the participation of millions of people, can’t be described as “an innocent uprising,” Erdogan said in Ankara on Wednesday, following Kavala’s acquittal.

“Figures like” billionaire George Soros were behind the scenes, he said. “As you know, his branch in Turkey was in jail,” the president said, in an apparent reference to Kavala. “With a maneuver, they attempted to acquit him.”

Soros has been attacked by nationalist politicians and commentators from the U.S. to Italy to his native Hungary over his support for liberal causes, with many of the barbs widely seen as anti-Semitic.

In a related development, Turkey’s highest judicial body, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, started an investigation against the judges who ruled to acquit nine defendants including Kavala.

The European Court of Human Rights has said that Kavala’s ongoing arrest violates the European Convention of Human Rights.

“In the absence of facts, information or evidence showing that Mr Kavala had been involved in criminal activity, he could not reasonably be suspected of having attempted to overthrow the government by force or violence,” ECHR said in its ruling last December.

To contact the reporter on this story: Taylan Bilgic in Istanbul at tbilgic2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Paul Abelsky, Amy Teibel

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