MLSA - Iris Mozalar, the only person prosecuted among 112 detained during Turkey’s annual March 8 Feminist Night March, appeared in court Monday to face charges of participating in an unlawful demonstration. In the first hearing of her trial at the Istanbul 7th Criminal Court of First Instance, Mozalar denied the allegations and stated she was exercising her democratic right to join a peaceful protest. “What’s on trial here is not just me, but the struggle of women and LGBTI+ people for equality and freedom,” she said.
Mozalar is charged under Article 2911 of the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations for allegedly participating in an unauthorized gathering. The Feminist Night March, held annually since 2003 on International Women’s Day in Istanbul, brings together thousands of women and LGBTI+ individuals to demand equal rights. While authorities have banned the march in recent years, courts have overturned several of those bans.
“I just wanted to live free and equal”
In her defense statement, Mozalar emphasized that the March 8 protest was peaceful and aimed at voicing the demands of women, LGBTI+ people, and other marginalized groups. “This is a non-violent, democratic expression of rights,” she said. “The bans imposed on these marches in recent years have been overturned by the courts.”
Describing the circumstances of her arrest, Mozalar said the march had already ended and she was heading home when police blocked all exits from Cihangir Street. “Thousands of people were forced to disperse in groups of two or three. I was caught in this bottleneck,” she said. She added that she had not heard any dispersal order and was unaware that the area had been declared off-limits. “We were detained arbitrarily, without any opportunity to leave, and misled.”
“Slogans are not a crime”
Responding to the prosecution’s claims that certain slogans and banners were criminal, Mozalar said: “Yes, I carried a banner reading ‘Our feminist struggle will change our lives and the world’ and chanted slogans like ‘Rebellion despite everything, freedom despite everything’ and ‘If women were free, the world would shake.’ But I was not alone—thousands chanted these slogans. None of these are crimes.”
One slogan singled out in the indictment was “Trans murders are political,” which Mozalar defended as a statement of fact. “We are drawing attention to systematic hate crimes in this country. This is not an insult or a disruption of public order—it’s a defense of our lives,” she said. She honored the memories of murdered trans women including Hande Kader, Esra Ateş, Dora Özer, and Aleda, saying the slogan is meant to keep their names alive with dignity.
“I don't just want to live, I want to live freely and equally”
Mozalar concluded her defense by connecting her participation in the march to broader struggles against femicide. “I don’t want to die either,” she said. “But it’s not just about living—I want to live free and equal. That’s why I joined the Feminist Night March on March 8, knowing it was my right.”
“Out of over 200, why just me?”
She also criticized the fact that she was the only one among over 200 women detained that night to face prosecution. “This is blatant discrimination and a legal injustice. Out of the thousands who marched and the hundreds who were detained, I was singled out as if I was the only one there,” she said.
Court orders video footage review
The court ruled to request police surveillance footage to determine whether Mozalar resisted law enforcement officers and decided to send the recordings to an expert for analysis. The next hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2026, at 9:20 a.m.
