The shameful sentence in the Gezi Trial caused great outrage. Stressing that they would not recognize this decision, hundreds of people begun a Justice Vigil in front of the Çağlayan Courthouse calling on everyone to show their solidarity.

A statement said that the indictment was written in the [president] Palace, the verdict was given by the Palace, and the decision was announced in court. It was underlined that the reason why this decision was taken so easily was the fact that opposition became silent. The statement said that the struggle continues.

The sentence in the Gezi trial was read on Monday. The court convicted the defendants of crimes that did not exist. While Osman Kavala was given aggravated life imprisonment, Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi were sentenced to 18 years in prison each.

People in the courtroom reacted to the decision chanting slogans such as "Everywhere Taksim, Everywhere Resistance".

Lawyer Can Atalay, who made a farewell speech to the crowd in the hall, which was under police blockade, emphasized that they would not accept this sentence and would not bow to persecution. Seven defendants were taken to prison amidst applause and after saying goodbye to their relatives.

Background

Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala has been sentenced to an aggravated life sentence in Istanbul's much-criticized "Gezi trial." The three judges handed down the sentence to the 64-year-old on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. Prospects of conditional release for Kavala do not exist according to valid case law: persons sentenced to life imprisonment with aggravated execution for crimes that the court considers committed against the "security of the state" remain in custody until physical death. The courtroom immediately reacted to the decision with boos and loud protests. The verdict is not yet final.

Kavala has been imprisoned in the maximum-security Silivri prison near Istanbul for four and a half years without having been found guilty of any of the charges against him so far. The Turkish judiciary and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuse him of trying to destabilize the country. According to the indictment, the charges in the trial were an attempted coup in connection with the Gezi protests of 2013 and "political and military espionage" in connection with the coup attempt of 2016. In February 2020, a court acquitted him of this charge.

The culture promoter has always denied all the accusations against him, calling them "conspiracy theories" and seeing himself as a victim of political instrumentalization on the part of the government. At the latest hearing last Friday, Kavala again denied the charges against him, saying the indictment was full of "misleading statements." "The fact that I spent four and a half years of my life in prison is a loss that cannot be repaid," Kavala had said in his closing statement. He said he could only be comforted "if what I went through would help put an end to serious miscarriages of justice."