Protest takes place at Gezi trial in İzmir

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

People in the courthouse protest court decisions by chanting slogans such as, “Everywhere is Taksim, Everywhere is resistance.” DHA Photo

The trial of suspects who demonstrated in İzmir in support of the Gezi Park protesters started on Sept. 10 with protests in the courthouse, after the demand to hold the trial without arrest was rejected by the court.

Fifteen suspects, 14 of them under arrest, are facing sentences of up to 17 years for charges of “resisting public officials” and “committing a crime on behalf of a terrorist organization,” in three separate cases at İzmir’s 12th High Criminal Court. The first trial of the first case started on Sept. 10 with two suspects, one under arrest, being tried.

Arrested suspect Akgün Irgat’s demand to be tried without arrest was rejected by the court, leading people in the courthouse to protest the decision by chanting slogans such as, “Everywhere is Taksim, Everywhere is resistance.”

The two suspects, university student Deniz Dilgi and cleaning worker Irgat, denied claims that they were members of any terrorist organizations, or of attending the protests upon the calls of any particular group.