A Turkish court on Wednesday ordered the release of six people out of 13 jailed over a protest marking the 100th day of the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, though seven of the 13 will remain behind bars on separate charges of insulting the president, Turkish media reported.
The defendants were among 35 people prosecuted for allegedly violating Turkey’s Law on Meetings and Demonstrations (Law No. 2911) during a July 1 rally in Istanbul’s Saraçhane district. Police detained 42 people at the protest, and 13 were later arrested.
The Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court ordered that all 13 defendants jailed under the demonstrations law be released on Wednesday. But it ruled that detention would continue for seven of them facing additional charges of insulting the president over slogans shouted at the rally. Prosecutors are seeking the maximum allowable sentences in that case.
Turkey’s Law on Meetings and Demonstrations (Law No. 2911), enacted in 1983, regulates the right to protest but has long been criticized for undermining it. While the Turkish Constitution guarantees peaceful assembly, the law gives governors and police sweeping authority to restrict or disperse gatherings.
Human rights groups say the law’s vague wording allows the government to criminalize otherwise lawful protests. It has increasingly been used against opposition politicians, students, journalists and activists. During the 2025 protests over İmamoğlu’s detention, authorities invoked Law 2911 to justify mass arrests and tight restrictions on rallies in Istanbul and other cities.
In Turkey thousands of people are investigated, prosecuted or convicted on charges of insulting the president on the basis of the controversial Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
Family members, along with senior officials from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), including Deputy Chair Suat Özçağdaş and Istanbul Deputy Mayor Nuri Aslan, attended the hearing.
İmamoğlu, a senior member of the opposition CHP, was detained on March 19 and arrested days later on corruption charges criticized as politically motivated. His arrest, widely seen as targeting the biggest political rival to longtime President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2028 presidential election, sparked Turkey’s worst protests in decades.
More than 500 people linked to the party or the İstanbul Municipality have been detained or arrested since March.
Among them are 14 CHP mayors, including İmamoğlu, who was also suspended from office.
The party and its supporters say the operations targeting the CHP are designed to neutralize elected officials and sideline opposition leaders after the party’s gains in the March 2024 local elections.
İmamoğlu, who faces multiple investigations, has been sentenced to two prison terms, including one for allegedly insulting a public prosecutor. Both sentences are under appeal, but opposition leaders claim the charges are politically motivated.
International human rights groups and lawmakers in Europe have raised concerns over the rule of law in Turkey, warning that the mass detentions and legal pressures could further erode democratic norms. The Marmara Prison in Silivri, where many opposition figures, including İmamoğlu, are being held, has become a symbol of the country’s deepening political tensions.
