Büşra Genel
A Turkish prosecutor has requested prison sentences for 26 people accused of violating the Law on Demonstrations and Public Meetings (Law No. 2911) after they participated in a memorial marking the 2022 Amasra mining disaster, which killed 43 coal miners in northern Turkey.
The 11th hearing of the case was held on Monday, November 11, at the 65th Criminal Court of First Instance in Ankara. The trial began at 12:30 p.m., with defendants Deniz Çelik, Ilgaz Kekeç, Alara Kanlı, Ertürk Soysal, and Mert Orhan Ömerbeyoğlu represented in court by attorneys Seher Duygu Çildoğan, Dilan Denizhan, and Sidal Bayrak.
During the session, defense lawyer Sidal Bayrak contested the expert report that had been ordered in a previous hearing, arguing that the report lacked any identification of her clients. “There is no identification of the defendants in the expert report. We believe the report constitutes unlawfully obtained evidence. We do not accept the statements made against them,” Bayrak said.
Claims of disproportionate police force
Dilan Denizhan, representing defendant Alara Kanlı, also objected to the expert report and claimed that police intervention occurred before the gathering officially began and without fulfilling the legal criteria required under the law. “The intervention took place before the assembly had even begun, and before the conditions outlined in Law No. 2911 were met. Since the legal elements of the offense are absent, I request my client’s acquittal,” she said.
Prosecutor alleges unlawful assembly
Following the defense statements, the prosecutor presented the final opinion. The prosecutor argued that the defendants had participated in an unauthorized demonstration organized by civil society groups and had failed to disperse despite police warnings. “It has been established that the defendants did not disperse despite police orders and resisted, thereby violating the Law on Demonstrations and Public Meetings,” the opinion stated.
Citing the defendants’ failure to comply with police warnings to disperse, the prosecutor demanded that all 26 be convicted under Law No. 2911.
After defense attorneys requested time to prepare their responses to the prosecutor’s final opinion, the court postponed the next hearing to December 11 at 2:50 p.m.
