Turkey releases over 120 people charged with taking part in anti-government protests

ISTANBUL — Turkey on Thursday freed more than 120 people detained during last month's mass anti-government protests.

Courts in Istanbul released on bail 127 defendants, most of them university students, who were arrested at their homes on March 24 after taking part in demonstrations sparked by the jailing of the city’s opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Imamoglu, who was arrested on March 19 on corruption and terrorism charges, is seen as the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 22-year rule. His imprisonment has been widely viewed as politically motivated and sparked nationwide protests. The government insists Turkey’s judiciary is independent and free of political influence.

More than 2,000 people were detained for taking part in the country’s largest mass demonstrations in more than a decade. Of those, some 300 were jailed awaiting trial.

Those freed on Thursday are charged with participating in banned protests. One court released 102 suspects, many of them students with upcoming exams, after considering the time they had spent in prison, the low risk of absconding and on condition of not traveling abroad. A separate court released a further 25 people on condition that they report to police regularly.

The releases follow a campaign by parents to have their children set free, with many holding daily vigils outside a prison in Silivri, west of Istanbul.

Among those released was prominent demonstrator Berkay Gezgin, a 22-year-old student who met Imamoglu on the campaign trail in 2019 and coined the slogan “Everything will be fine,” which the Istanbul mayor later used in his campaign.

The defendants’ cases will be heard in June and September at Istanbul’s Caglayan Courthouse.