Decision in the case regarding the protests in Saraçhane: 12 acquittals, 4 convictions

The fifth hearing of the case in which 16 people were tried on the charge of "insulting the President" in the investigation launched after the protests held in Saraçhane on March 25, 2025, was held at the Istanbul 40th Criminal Court of First Instance.

In his opinion on the merits, the hearing prosecutor cited the expert report prepared by the National Criminal Bureau.

The report claimed that 4 people were in a group chanting slogans simultaneously and that their lip movements were compatible with the statements that were said to contain insults.

In the report, it was stated that for the other 12 names, it could not be determined that the action subject to the accusation or that they shouted slogans.

The prosecutor requested the punishment of four defendants and the acquittal of the other 12 defendants due to lack of evidence.

“THEIR VOICES COULD NOT BE DETECTED”

The defendant's lawyers argued that the images were obtained illegally and that the expert report did not have sufficient certainty for a conviction.

A lawyer pointed out that his client's voice could not be detected in the expert report and stated that the evaluation was made only by reading lip movements.

The lawyer of the other defendants also argued that there was no evidence in the file other than the images, that no voices were detected, and that "highly probable" evaluations were made about the defendants in the images.

ACQUITTED FOR 12 PEOPLE

Court; It was decided to acquit 12 people on the grounds that it was not proven that they committed a crime.

11 MONTHS AND 20 DAYS IN JAIL FOR 4 PEOPLE