Istanbul 65th Criminal Court of First Instance acquitted 88 people and sentenced two to seven months and 15 days in prison each in a case in which 90 people who took part in protests in Saraçhane after Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained were tried in two separate files. In each file, the court acquitted 44 people of violating Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations. It sentenced two people for “incitement to commit a crime” over social media posts and deferred announcement of the verdicts against them. Istanbul Bar Association Chair İbrahim Kaboğlu, who attended the hearing, said the Istanbul Governor’s Office ban on demonstrations between 19 and 23 March 2025, which police had cited as the basis for their interventions, had been annulled by the administrative judiciary and that the ruling was final. Kaboğlu argued that law-enforcement officers had used force on the basis of an unlawful ban and violated freedom of assembly and demonstration.
12 October 2026
Kısa Dalga