The Council of Europe on Monday awarded its top rights prize to jailed Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, who has come under repeated attack from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Kavala, 66, faced alternating charges that have ranged from espionage and financing the 2013 protests to taking part in a failed 2016 coup against Erdogan.

He was arrested in October 2017 and sentenced to life in 2022 for allegedly trying to topple Erdogan’s government.

“I am very sad that he is not here with us to receive this prize. This prize is so important,” his wife, Ayse Bugra Kavala, said, accepting the award from Tiny Kox, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Turkey’s refusal to abide by European Court of Human Rights rulings to immediately release Kavala have torn at Ankara’s relations with Western allies.

The Council of Europe has launched infringement proceeding against Turkey over its treatment of Kavala.

That could potentially see Ankara expelled from the continent’s leading human rights organisation.

Critics say it also highlights the deterioration of Turkey’s rights record in the second decade of Erdogan’s rule.

Turkey’s supreme court last month upheld Kavala’s conviction and life imprisonment on the charge of attempting to overthrow Erdogan’s government during large-scale protests in 2013.

Kavala does not have the possibility to appeal.