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Responding to today’s acquittal of 87 protesters on trial for their participation in mass protests which took place following the detention of Istanbul Mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, and yesterday’s acquittal of eight journalists and four lawyers charged in relation to the same demonstrations, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director EU, Balkans and Turkey, Dinushka Disanayake, said: 

“Whilst the acquittal of these 87 peaceful protesters, eight journalists and four lawyers is welcome, it does beg the question as to why they were put through this eight-month ordeal in the first place. 

The prosecutions of these protesters, journalists and lawyers should never have been brought

“Last March, hundreds of young people were detained and criminalized for protesting the detention and subsequent remand in pre-trial detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu. Amnesty International’s research into the policing of these mass protests found allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including the targeting of journalists, by law enforcement officials during the demonstrations. 

“The prosecutions of these protesters, journalists and lawyers should never have been brought and the endemic misuse of the criminal justice system to crack down on dissent in Türkiye must end.” 

Background 

For information about Amnesty International’s research into the policing of the March protests see this public statement. 

Today’s decision hearing follows two previous trials which also recently ended with wholesale acquittals. 

Another hearing held today was that of 13 protesters prosecuted for ‘insulting the president’. The protesters have already spent almost three months in pre-trial detention between March and May this year. Their hearing was postponed to May 2026, with the court referring the file to be examined by the National Criminal Bureau to establish whether photographic evidence backs the claim against the individuals concerned. A lawyer representing the President was present at the hearing and requested that the court find the defendants guilty of the charge because ‘his honour had been damaged by the actions of the defendants.’ 

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Responding to the Russian Supreme Court’s closed-door decision to designate the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF/FBK), founded by colleagues of the late prisoner of conscience Aleksei Navalny, a “terrorist organization,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:

“The Kremlin’s long campaign against the late opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and his supporters has reached a stunning peak. By branding FBK a ‘terrorist organization’ in arbitrary court proceedings behind closed doors, the authorities are not only smearing and trying to erase Navalny’s legacy but they are also exposing tens of thousands of Russian citizens who have been associated with him over the past 15 years to the potential risk of prosecution. Posting a photograph of Navalny has already proven enough to trigger severe personal consequences; now it will guarantee arrest and imprisonment.”

The Kremlin’s long campaign against the late opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and his supporters has reached a stunning peak

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

“The Russian authorities must stop weaponizing ‘anti-terrorism’ legislation to silence critics, they must reverse the ban on FBK, end the persecution of people allegedly linked to it and ensure an independent international investigation into Aleksei Navalny’s torture and other ill-treatment – and death – in custody.”

Background

On 27 November 2025, the Supreme Court granted the Prosecutor General’s Office’s request to recognise the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Inc., the US-registered successor of the banned Russia-based FBK, as a “terrorist organization.” The hearing was held behind closed doors, presided over by the same judge who had previously outlawed the non-existent “international LGBT movement” and “international satanism movement” as “extremist.”

FBK, founded by prominent opposition figure Aleksei Navalny in 2011, became well-known for its investigations of corruption in the Russian government and mobilizing popular support for its anti-graft campaigns. The Russian authorities banned the association in 2021 for being an “extremist organization,” and its alleged members and donors have faced unjust prosecutions.

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