Release decision for 93 youths arrested during protests in Istanbul
A release decision has been issued for 59 youths who participated in protests following the arrest of CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.
12punto
In the operation targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, a release decision was issued for 93 youths who participated in protests following the arrest of CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.
COURT DECISION
The court's decision stated that the release was granted 'considering the nature and character of the alleged crime, the lower and upper limits of the penalty defined by law, the fact that it is not among the catalog crimes specified in Article 100 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK), the current state of evidence, the time the defendants have spent in detention, the fact that some defendants are students and the possibility of their educational processes being interrupted, the fact that the defendants have fixed residences and there is no suspicion of flight, the fact that other courts have issued release decisions for defendants in the same legal situation regarding the same crime, and considering the defendants' right to a fair trial as specified in Article 36 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey.'
INDIVIDUAL RELEASE DECISIONS
Taking into account reasons such as the low lower limit of the charges, the need not to disrupt the students' educational lives, and the principle that detention should not turn into a punishment rather than a measure, the court issued release decisions for 34 people, including Can Atalay from Boğaziçi University.
HEARING ON APRIL 21
The court set the date for the next hearing of the case as April 21, 2025, at 09:30. The defendants will appear before the judge on this date.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Following the detention of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, various protests were held, particularly in Saraçhane where the İBB building is located, and hundreds of people were taken into custody.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that a total of 20 separate investigations had been launched regarding the actions taken on April 8, and that public lawsuits had been filed against 819 out of 829 people. According to the Prosecutor's Office's statement, the number of detainees was reported as 278.
Yesterday, the Istanbul 61st Criminal Court of First Instance decided to release academic Levent Dölek and three others, followed by the Istanbul 26th Criminal Court of First Instance, which decided to release 25 detained youths.
Additionally, 102 more youths, including Berkay Gezgin, the creator of İmamoğlu's election slogan 'Everything will be very beautiful,' were released. Today, a decision was made for the release of 59 youths.