The retrial of Mücella Yapıcı, Ali Hakan Altınay, and Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi in the Gezi Park case has been postponed as the court awaits the prosecutor's final opinion. The Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court sent the case file to the prosecutor for the preparation of the final opinion, and the next hearing is scheduled for December 10.
This retrial follows the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn the 18-year prison sentences previously handed down to the three defendants for allegedly violating Turkey's Law on Meetings and Demonstrations during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. The third hearing of the retrial took place on October 2, 2024, with the defendants’ lawyers—Fikret İlkiz for Mücella Yapıcı, Emel Ataktürk Sevimli for Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, and Tora Pekin and Ayşe Deniz Altınay for Ali Hakan Altınay—present in court.
In the previous hearing, the court had requested files related to previous trials of Yapıcı and other cases connected to the Gezi protests, including a case where she was acquitted of similar charges by the Istanbul 5th Criminal Court of First Instance. It also included a separate case ongoing at the Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court, where three police officers are being tried for "torture" over their alleged role in subjecting Yapıcı and her daughter Cansu Yapıcı to a strip search while in custody during the Gezi protests.
During the latest hearing, the court noted that the requested case files had been submitted through the judicial system. The defense lawyers requested further examination of missing elements in the case. The court then decided to forward the file to the prosecutor’s office for the preparation of the final opinion, before adjourning the trial until December.
The Gezi Park protests, which began in 2013 as a small environmental demonstration, quickly escalated into nationwide anti-government protests and have since become a symbol of resistance against growing authoritarianism in Turkey. Many of the individuals prosecuted in connection with the protests, including prominent architects, activists, and academics like Yapıcı, have faced lengthy legal battles.
