The Council of Europe awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize to Turkish human rights defenders Osman Kavala

Baku/09.10.23/Turan: On Monday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) awarded the Vaclav Havel International Prize to Osman Kavala, a human rights activist arrested in Turkey, the head of PACE, Tiny Koch, announced  at the session that opened today in Strasbourg. 

The prize was awarded to the wife of human rights activist Aisha Bugra Kavala. 

She read out the address of her husband, who expressed the belief that "Turkey will one day become a democratic and free country."

The Paris-born financier, activist and philanthropist Kavala was accused of financing mass protests in 2013 against the demolition of Gezi Park in Istanbul, and an attempt to overthrow the government. A Turkish court sentenced him to life imprisonment. 

Kavala has also previously directed part of his fortune to finance projects for reconciliation and the development of cultural ties between Turkey and Armenia. The Turkish authorities presented him as an "agent of George Soros" using financial means to overthrow the government. ---16D---