İsmail İshak Arslan, a 23-year-old student of molecular biology and genetics at İstanbul's Biruni University, left the campus on May 26, 2023. After getting off Marmaray commuter in Üsküdar, he began walking toward the bus stops.
Only two days remained until the runoff of the presidential election. In the square, then-Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu was holding a campaign event in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Bugün İç İşleri Bakanı Süleyman Soylu'nun #Üsküdar 'daki "gezi"sinde bu genç yurttaş SADECE KALP İŞARETİ YAPTIĞI için böyle yaka paça alınıyor.
— ONUR CİNGİL (@onurcingil) May 26, 2023
Adını bağırıyor, anladığım kadarıyla İsmail diyor.
Alanlar kim belli değil, konuyu takip ediyorum!!!
Merak etmeyin, KALP TAŞI YENECEK!! pic.twitter.com/jB8EXkVclV
Turning toward the crowd and the bus, Arslan made a heart gesture by bringing his hands together — a symbol popularized by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition's candidate.
What followed unfolded quickly. Security cameras in the area captured the young man being violently dragged, struck on the head and upper body, and forced into an unmarked civilian vehicle. Early news reports shared this exact scene:
“They’re beating him while taking him... They’re beating him... He didn’t do anything. He just made a heart sign.”
In the video, a voice is heard shouting: “My name is İsmail, help me, no, no!”
A police officer can also be heard yelling: “Don’t record!” as he tried to prevent bystanders from filming the incident.
Arslan was released later that day from the vehicle he had been forced into. There was no formal detention. No investigation was launched in the following days. Arslan went to Haydarpaşa Numune Training and Research Hospital and obtained a medical report for battery.
The doctor who prepared the report noted that he had suffered head trauma. There were also bruises and lesions on several parts of his body.
Later, Arslan filed a complaint against the police officers who assaulted him, accompanied by his lawyer, Onur Cingil. Cingil explained that Arslan was forcibly placed into a black civilian vehicle, beaten inside, held by the nape by a bodyguard who also insulted him, and punched while inside the car. He was eventually dropped off near Üsküdar’s Paşalimanı area.
Arslan also identified Suat Sancar, a police officer with the Special Operations Branch, as one of the assailants.
The İstanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against police officer Sancar on charges of “intentional injury by abuse of influence.” The indictment stated:
“The complainant (Arslan) made a heart gesture with both hands, at which point the police officers intervened and attempted to force him into a police vehicle. The complainant resisted getting into the vehicle, during which 4 to 5 police officers assaulted him. The officers punched and kicked the complainant. It was determined that the suspect, a police officer working at the Special Operations Branch, also physically assaulted the complainant.”
Although lawyer Onur Cingil repeatedly petitioned for the prosecution of the other officers who detained Arslan, no case was opened on the grounds that their identities could not be confirmed. According to Cingil, these officers were members of Soylu’s security detail and the Presidential Counter Attack Team (CAT).
Their file was separated from Sancar’s case and left unsolved — or in Cingil’s words, “famously unsolved.”
“Despite submitting photographs and numerous documents, neither their names were identified nor were they asked to testify. They’re still out there, free to torture others,” he said.
The case against the single defendant lasted seven hearings. A verdict was issued on Mar 5, 2026. The İstanbul Anadolu 72nd Penal Court of First Instance found police officer Suat Sancar guilty.
Considering “the manner in which the crime was committed, the extent of the victim’s injuries, and the defendant’s level of intent,” the court initially sentenced Sancar to 180 days of judicial fine.
It then reduced the sentence to 150 days, citing the officer’s clean criminal record. The fine was converted to a monetary penalty of 7,500 liras, calculated at 50 liras per day. The court deferred the announcement of the verdict under a deferred judgment rule (HAGB), suspending the sentence for five years.
Regarding the ruling, Cingil said: “After three years of legal struggle, we finally have a decision. One of the officers was found guilty. The case was confined to ‘injury.’ The files on the Presidential Counter Attack Team and Special Operations Police were separated. The charges of deprivation of liberty and torture were left unresolved.”
