ISTANBUL
Twenty-six people facing criminal charges linked to the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul have been acquitted by a Turkish court.
The 33rd Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction in Istanbul ruled Wednesday that their protests could not be legally described as a crime.
Five suspects were leading members of the Istanbul-based Taksim Solidarity group.
Among them were: Mucella Yapici, a master architect at the Istanbul branch of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey; and Istanbul Chamber of Doctors' general secretary, Ali Cerkezoglu.
The five had been accused of "establishing an organization to commit an offense."
Other defendants had been charged with "attending an illegal meeting and marches and refusing to disperse."
The trial opened in June 2014, a year after the protests against the Istanbul municipality's decision to remove a number of trees in a rare green space in the city center as part of a redevelopment project.
What began as an environmental issue, with concerned Istanbulites numbering in the dozens occupying Gezi Park to prevent the removal of the trees, soon mushroomed into a nationwide wave of protests against the Turkish government.
Turkish authorities later labeled the demonstrations a coup attempt, perpetrated by a "parallel state" embedded in the country's institutions.
