European rights court orders Turkey to free imprisoned businessman

Kavala, 68, became a symbol of a government crackdown on civil society in Turkey following his arrest in October 2017.He and others were accused of orchestrating and financing anti-government protests in 2013, which started in Istanbul's Gezi park before spreading across Turkey.The demonstrations posed the first serious challenge to the rule of Erdogan, who was Turkey's dominant prime minister at the time and became its directly elected president the following year.Human rights group Amnesty International says prosecutors falsely alleged that the Gezi park protests were an attempt to overthrow the government. In 2019, the ECHR demanded Kavala's immediate release, describing his detention as arbitrary and politically motivated. Turkey did not implement the ruling.He was initially acquitted in February 2020 but within hours was rearrested on new charges of being part of a failed military coup in 2016.His acquittal over the Gezi Park protests was overturned in January 2021, and he was sentenced to life in prison in April 2022 - a conviction now declared "null and void" by the ECHR.Reacting to the latest ECHR ruling, Amnesty International's Eve Geddie said: "This obstruction of justice...