Turkish court releases students jailed on ‘terror propaganda’ charges
The trial of 22 Turkish students opened today with their release, though they still face terror charges for participating in a protest against Turkey's military incursion in Syria.
The remaining 14 students from Istanbul’s liberal Bogazici University who were charged with spreading “terror propaganda” for protesting Turkey’s military offensive against the Syrian Kurdish enclave Afrin were freed pending trial by the judge in their first courtroom hearing today.
The youths were detained and arrested after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called them “terrorists in the guise of students.”
"At last our children from Bogazici have been freed. Now it's the turn of the other students. We will bring an end to the darkness in Turkey, where nearly 70,000 students are in jail," tweeted Nesrin Nas, an opposition politician observing the trial.
The students had been held in pre-trial detention since March, when police raided their dorms and hauled them away. The accusations stem from their actions — chanting slogans and unfurling banners — against a group of students who supported Turkey’s campaign against the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units. A brief scuffle ensued.
