A Turkish court has ordered the release of three university students who had been jailed on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by holding a protest sign that read “Dictator Erdoğan” during a youth concert in İstanbul last month, the Anka news agency reported.
Esila Ayık, Arda Öğüşlü and Mehmet Efe Erdoğan were arrested in early April after attending the “Youth Solidarity Concert” in the Kadıköy district, where they were seen holding the sign. Prosecutors charged them with “insulting the president” and sought prison sentences of up to four years, eight months.
At the first hearing of their trial at İstanbul’s Anadolu Courthouse on Thursday, the prosecutor requested the continuation of their detention. But the judge ordered the release of all three students pending trial.
‘It was a photo op’
Ayık told the judge she had gone to the concert to take photos and had held up the sign briefly for a picture, unaware of the legal consequences.
“I’m a photography student in Belgium. I came to this concert to take pictures,” she said. “I picked up a sign I found for a quick photo. I didn’t even hold it for five minutes. If I had known it was a crime, I would never have done it.”
She added that she didn’t know the person who gave her the sign and that her health had deteriorated in custody. “I have chronic heart and kidney conditions. The prison environment is bad for my health. I also missed my exams,” she said.
The judge pressed her, saying: “Didn’t you look at what was written on the sign before you held it up? You’re not a child. Why did you let someone take your picture like that?”
Despite the prosecutor’s objections, the judge ruled in favor of the students’ release.
Ayık had been held at Bakırköy Women’s Prison since April 9, where, according to friends and lawyers, she was denied access to her prescribed medication. Rights groups and opposition figures had expressed concern over her detention, noting her chronic medical conditions and the non-violent nature of the alleged offense.
She had traveled to Turkey from Belgium, where she is a photography student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, for a brief family visit. Her participation in the Kadıköy event coincided with a wave of student-led demonstrations following the March arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a prominent opposition figure.
Nearly 2,000 people were detained during nationwide protests in the wake of İmamoğlu’s arrest, with around 300 formally jailed. Ayık’s case was seen by many as emblematic of the government’s broad use of Turkey’s controversial Article 299 of the penal code, which criminalizes insulting the president.
In Turkey thousands of people are investigated, prosecuted or convicted on charges of insulting the president on the basis of this article. The crime carries up to four years in prison, a sentence that can be increased if the act was committed using the mass media.