24 People Who Joined 2017 LGBTI+ Pride Parade in İstanbul Acquitted
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The court has announced its ruling in the lawsuit filed against 24 people on charge of "violating the law on meetings and demonstrations" for having participated in the 15th LGBTI+ Pride Parade in Taksim in 2017.
The final hearing of the case was held at the İstanbul 48th Penal Court of First Instance. Announcing its judgement on two defendants who are not citizens of Turkey, the court board has ruled that the warrants previously issued for them shall be lifted on the ground that the court also backed down from its decision to hear their statements of defense.
Court: Elements of crime did not arise
The court board of the İstanbul 48th Penal Court of First Instance has also ruled for the acquittal of 24 defendants on the ground that the elements of the offence "violating the law on meetings and demonstrations" did not arise.
What happened?The 1st İstanbul Pride Parade was held in 2003, ten years after the İstanbul Pride Week started to be organized in the city. Ten years later, in 2013, as many as 100,000 people joined the march on İstiklal Avenue. After groups such as Alperen Movement and media organizations such as Yeni Akit made statements threatening the LGBTI+s, the Governorship of İstanbul announced that the 15th Pride Parade would not be allowed. On the day of the parade, the police barricaded the streets leading to the İstiklal Avenue and did not allow the parade to take place. Several people who wanted to take to the avenue and join the Pride Parade were detained. A lawsuit was filed against 24 of the detained on charge of "violating the law on meetings and demonstrations." 41 members of the Alperen Movement, who came to the area to attack the LGBTI+ activists; however, they were released after identity checks. |
(EMK/SD)
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