A Turkish court on Monday ordered the release of Enes Hocaoğulları, a 23-year-old LGBTQ+ activist and Turkey’s youth delegate to the Council of Europe, pending trial on charges that rights groups and European institutions have condemned as an attack on free expression, Reuters reported.
Hocaoğulları had been taken into police custody on August 4 at Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport and later arrested on charges of “inciting hatred and enmity” and “spreading false information to mislead the public.” He had returned from Strasbourg, where in March he addressed the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, criticizing the dismissal of opposition mayors and police violence against young people.
Appearing in court in Ankara in handcuffs and escorted by gendarmes, Hocaoğulları denied the charges. “I exercised my right to freedom of expression. I am innocent. In this hearing I request my release and, at the end of the trial, my acquittal,” he said, adding that his Strasbourg remarks had been distorted.
The hearing was attended by diplomats from European embassies, opposition lawmakers and civil society representatives.
A delegation from the Council of Europe’s Congress visited Ankara last week and met with Hocaoğulları in Sincan Prison. It said in a statement that there was no justification for his prosecution or pretrial detention, warning that “silencing Enes is silencing youth — and silencing youth is silencing democracy itself.”
Amnesty International and other rights groups have also described his case as arbitrary and urged his immediate release.
The court freed Hocaoğulları under judicial supervision, including a travel ban, while the trial continues. The next hearing is scheduled for February 23, 2026.