“Gezi Souvenir Photo” Not A Crime, Court Rules

Yeşinil Yeşilyurt, an advocate, stood trial this afternoon for charged related to having a souvenir photo during Turkey’s Gezi Resistance in 2013. 

On the first hearing, Istanbul 6^th Assize Court acquitted the defendant from all charges, ruling that no unlawful act was committed.  

Yeşinil Yeşilyurt took a sovenir photo with an upside down vehicle during the Gezi Resistance in 2013 - a trend that  thousands of people followed. She also shared the aforementioned photo in his social media accounts. Following the incident, Akit, a conservative newspaper, published an article entitled “Low baron’s low lawyer”, pointing Yeşilyurt out. A prosecution has been launched against Yeşilyurt for charges related to “praising crime and criminals” and “property damage”.

Kenan Kıran, the journalists who wrote the aforementioned article, also faced a prosecution for “violating the confidentiality of communication and accusation”. Kıran didn’t attend the first hearing at Bakırköy 11th Assize Court. 

Akit follows via Facebook, Instagram and phone

Yeşilyurt made the following defense to Istanbul 6^th Assize Court this afternoon:

“Kenan Kıran called me on the phone and asked for an interview on the issue. He registered our conversation without my consent and published it in the newspaper article. The newspaper published the same photo for a week from its front page with a red circle around my head and pointed me out.”

Are you going to put everyone to trial?

Yaman Akdeniz and Kerem Altıparmak, two academics and human rights lawyers, made the following comments:

“…We believe that it would be insufficient to legitimize the intervention of the defendant’s freedom of expression by the aforementioned charges that risk two years of prison sentence due to a souvenir photo taken during a social gathering that hundreds of people attending. If it would be legitimate to put this person on trial, then we should order thousands of similar people to stand trial.” (AS/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.