The proceeding of 13 defendants, 11 of them on pre-trial detention, started at Istanbul 23rd Assize Court. The defendants were charged due to gathering and holding an illegal meeting and demonstration in Kadıköy on January 21 to protest the Olive Branch Operation of the Turkish Armed Forces against Afrin.
The court decided for the defendants on detention to be released, scheduling the next hearing for the deficiencies in the file to be compensated. The indictment of the case claims imprisonment sentences against the defendants due to ‘participating an illegal meeting and demonstration unarmed,’ ‘failing to oblige with dispersion warning’ and ‘making terrorist organization propaganda.’