This case is of grave importance — not just on an individual level but for the future of rule of law and human rights in Turkey and across Europe. 

Başak Çalı and Philip Leach are representing Osman Kavala at the European Court of Human Rights.

When war, geopolitics, energy squeezes and inflation take center stage on the Continent, is there a risk of human rights and rule of law being forgotten? In such a context, does the credibility of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the fate of one wrongly imprisoned man really matter?

As human rights lawyers, we fervently believe that they do. And as legal representatives of 65-year-old political prisoner Osman Kavala, we know that what’s happening to him in a prison outside Istanbul is of the gravest importance — not just to him and his family, but for the future of rule of law and human rights in Turkey and across Europe.

Kavala is a successful businessman, civil society activist and human rights defender, who works in art, culture, the environment, and on collective memory. And this week marks his fifth year behind bars, as he now faces life imprisonment.