Sat Apr 19 05:47:55 UTC 2025: **Istanbul Court Tries Hundreds Over Anti-Government Protests**
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (April 19, 2025) – A court in Istanbul began hearing the case of 189 defendants, mostly university students, charged with participating in banned protests and disobeying police orders. The protests erupted following the imprisonment of Istanbul’s opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, a prominent challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Imamoglu’s arrest on corruption charges, widely seen as politically motivated, sparked nationwide demonstrations. The government maintains the judiciary’s independence. Among the defendants are four photojournalists and three reporters covering the protests, whose case has been separated from the main trial. Over 2,000 people were detained in connection with these protests, the largest in Turkey in over a decade.
One defendant, 23-year-old Istanbul University student Derin Doga Kus, who spent 18 days in Silivri prison, described the proceedings as a “process where the law is trampled on.” Her release, along with dozens of other students, followed sustained pressure from parents who held daily vigils outside the prison. Lawyers for the defendants are demanding acquittal for all.
First Piper 