In the Gezi trial, a Turkish court acquitted the civil rights activist Osman Kavala and 15 defendants from all charges earlier today. The judges at the 30th Istanbul Heavy Penal Court in the Silivri prison complex also ordered Kavala's release from prison. According to them there is no "sufficient evidence" for the guilt of the accused.

While Kavala was expected to be released from Silivri Prison, Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has issued a new arrest warrant for Kavala citing an investigation into the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016.

Turkish businessman, human-rights defender and activist Osman Kavala was arrested in October 2017. The charges against him were not known for a long time, as the trial was initially classified. Only after more than a year did the public prosecutor's office present a 657-page indictment. The 62-year-old founder of the cultural foundation Anadolu Kültür and the other defendants were accused, among other things, of attempted coup in connection with the 2013 Gezi protests, which were critical of the government. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had already demanded Kavala’s release in December 2019. However, Turkey has not yet implemented the ruling. Most recently, the judges at the high-security prison Silivri had justified this on the grounds that there was a strong suspicion of a crime and a risk of flight.