Ankara Pride 2012 participants in Turkey There’s relief as a court in Turkey acquits 19 activists who were prosecuted for participating in a peaceful LGBTI+ Pride march. The 18 students and one academic were detained, charged and prosecuted for taking part in the march at Turkey’s Middle East Technical University (METU) in the city of Ankara on 10 May 2019.
They faced charges of “participating in an unlawful assembly” and “failing to disperse despite being warned” and up to three years in prison.
On Friday, the judge at Ankara’s 39th Penal Court of First Instance found the activists not guilty due to the absence of any element of a crime, and confirmed that commemorating Pride is not a crime.