American woman acquitted in graffiti trial in Turkey

ISTANBUL

An American citizen has been acquitted in a legal case in Istanbul over graffiti she painted on a subway gate that read “Love Everything.”

The woman, identified as Alexandra R., confessed to making the graffiti on the gate of a metro station in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district in 2016, daily Habertürk reported on July 3. 

After a security guard filed a criminal complaint about the incident, she was prosecuted, leading to a trial in which she could have been jailed for up to four years for “damaging public property.”

Alexandra R. told the court in the second hearing of the case on July 2 that she did not know about the Turkish law. “I have made graffiti in America and it is not a crime there. I have also seen a lot of graffiti in Turkey, too. If I had known it was a crime, I would not have done it,” she reportedly said.

According to the report, the court acquitted Alexandra R. by noting “she did not have the intention to commit a crime” and “her action did not contain criminal elements.”