Turkish court keeps Kavala in jail, combines charges from separate cases

A Turkish court ruled on Friday to keep in jail philanthropist businessman Osman Kavala, who has denied charges of involvement in an attempted 2016 coup and has already been detained more than three years. The court also decided to combine the case involving coup charges with Kavala's retrial in a case related to nationwide protests in 2013.

A Turkish court ruled on Friday to keep in jail philanthropist businessman Osman Kavala, who has denied charges of involvement in an attempted 2016 coup and has already been detained more than three years. The court also decided to combine the case involving coup charges with Kavala's retrial in a case related to nationwide protests in 2013. Kavala and eight others defendants were previously acquitted of those charges.

Last month an appeals court overturned the acquittals in the Gezi protests trial and requested that Kavala's two cases be combined. The first hearing in the retrial of the Gezi case will be on May 21.