Prominent Turkish financier to go on trial in June

ISTANBUL - The trial of prominent Turkish businessman Osman Kavala who is among 16 suspects accused of attempting to overthrow the government will begin on June 24, local media reported Tuesday.

Kavala, who has been in custody since November 2017, is accused of links to anti-government protests sparked in 2013 by a planned redevelopment of a park in Istanbul.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time, has accused Kavala of financing "the terrorists" during the protests against his government.

The hearing will last for a week and takes place at a court in Silivri on the outskirts of Istanbul, the private DHA news agency reported.

A Turkish court on Monday accepted an indictment from a prosecutor demanding life imprisonment of Kavala and 15 other suspects.

Human rights organisations reject as "absurd" claims against the suspects and say the trial is part of a campaign to intimidate civil society.

Western governments accuse Erdogan's government of eroding the rule of law especially since a 2016 failed coup and purges of tens of thousands of people from the public sector that followed.

In recent months, Turkish authorities have targeted supporters of protests against Erdogan's rule, just weeks before the country's local elections on March 31.

A respected figure in intellectual circles in Turkey and abroad, Kavala is chairman of the Anadolu Kultur (Anatolian Culture) foundation.

The organisation aims to overcome differences in Turkish society through culture and the arts and has sought to reach out to neighbouring Armenia.

Other suspects include dissident journalist Can Dundar who fled to Germany after he was convicted in 2016 because of a front page story in the opposition Cumhuriyet daily accusing Ankara of supplying weapons to Islamist groups in Syria.