Some detained defendants, including Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan and Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık, who were suspended from their duties after their arrest, attended the hearing held by the Istanbul 33rd High Criminal Court in the hall opposite the Marmara Closed Penal Institution.
Aziz İhsan Aktaş, İmamoğlu's father Hasan İmamoğlu, his son Mehmet Selim İmamoğlu and singer Ercan Saatçi, as well as some undetained defendants and lawyers attended the hearing. New Party Chairman Özgür Özel, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Chairman Nuri Aslan, İmamoğlu's wife Dilek İmamoğlu, some MPs and relatives of the detainees were present as spectators.
Speaking before the hearing started, the President of the Court Panel, Selçuk Aylan, said that they had prepared a list to receive the defenses of the defendants who were not detained.
Stating that the defenses of the undetained defendants in the hall will be taken today, Aylan stated that they will continue according to the list starting tomorrow.
The hearing continues with İmamoğlu's lawyer making a statement.
"OUR HOPE IS TO REMOVE THE HOPELESS WHERE THE HEARING LEFT"
New Party Chairman Özgür Özel answered the questions of the press in front of the prison before the hearing. Özel claimed that Ekrem İmamoğlu's right to defense was taken away and continued as follows:
"Our hope is that today the despair at the end of the hearing will be eliminated. Ekrem's right to defense was taken away from him. Even though he said 'I want to defend', he was given a short period of time like one day or half a day. They said 'Otherwise we will consider that we used your right to remain silent'. Let alone one of the most critical hearings in Turkey's political history, the first decision to be given in any simple case in any courthouse of 972 districts in Türkiye is a reversal decision. What is he trying to do? We do not know, would self-confident prosecutors, judges, and those who think they will dispense justice restrict the right to defense?
Özel stated that they came to witness a point in history and said:
"We came as the Chairman of the New Party, we did not want this process to work like this. But those who set up the conspiracy here and those who set up the conspiracy there are part of the same big plan, and this plan tried to take the party from us. We said that we would not surrender to this. Look, you see, the Istanbul Provincial Chairman of the New Party is here. Some restrictions were imposed by the governorship because you fell out of the main opposition for a while. Now he is the provincial chairman of the main opposition party. All our district presidents are here, our mayors, our deputies are here. The New Party is standing tall, we are taking our party away from us." Those who want to buy it are not around. We will see whether some of them will exercise their right to defense here or not."
FROM THE INDICTMENT
In the indictment prepared by the Organized Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the Civil Inspection Board Presidency is listed as the "informer", the Ministries of Treasury and Finance, Internal Affairs, Energy and Natural Resources, Agriculture and Forestry, the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the Şişli Municipality are listed as the "damaged by the crime".
In the indictment, there are a total of 407 people as "defendants", including 16 "complainants", 7 fugitives, and 5 "complainants-defendants".
In the indictment, which describes the activities of the criminal organization since its establishment in 2014 until today, it is evaluated that "The public damage caused by the benefit obtained from the 143 actions subject to the indictment is approximately 160 billion lira and 24 million dollars in total as of the dates of the crime (excluding the current value), and in real estate, it consists of 95 immovable properties in Istanbul and throughout the country (excluding the assets obtained by the ringleaders and managers of the organization from the proceeds of crime)."
In the organizational chart in the indictment, it is stated that the defendant Ekrem İmamoğlu is the "organization leader", and the defendants Murat Ongun, Fatih Keleş, Adem Soytekin, Ertan Yıldız, Hüseyin Gün and the fugitive defendant Murat Gülibrahimoğlu are the "organization manager".
In the diagram, it is stated that 10 organization members are directly affiliated with Ekrem İmamoğlu, and it is shown that 77 of the organization members are affiliated with Fatih Keleş, 35 with Murat Ongun, 8 with Ertan Yıldız, 7 with Hüseyin Gün, 6 with Murat Gülibrahimoğlu and 6 with Adem Soytekin.
In the indictment, Ekrem İmamoğlu was accused of "establishing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime", "recording personal data", "seizing and disseminating personal data", "concealing evidence of crime", "obstructing communication", "damaging public property", "bribery", "publicly disseminating misleading information", "extortion", "fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations", "laundering assets resulting from crime", "tendering". It is requested that he be sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 849 years to 2,430 years and 6 months for the crimes of "sedition", "deliberate pollution of the environment", "opposition to the Tax Procedure Law", "opposition to the Forest Law" and "opposition to the Mining Law".
In the indictment, Keleş was accused of "bribery" 48 times, "taking a bribe", "giving a bribe", 55 times "tender rigging", 39 times "fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations", 8 times "laundering proceeds of crime", "opposition to the Mining Law", "opposition to the Forest Law", "causing environmental pollution", "opposition to the Tax Procedure Law", It is requested that he be sentenced to imprisonment from 556 years and 8 months to 1542 years and 8 months for the crimes of "extortion", "destroying, concealing or altering criminal evidence" and "obstruction of communication".
In the indictment, which demands that Ongun be sentenced to imprisonment from 287 years and 6 months to 779 years and 6 months for the crimes of "bribery", 53 times "tender rigging", 33 times "fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations", "giving personal data to others, disseminating or seizing", "publicly disseminating misleading information" and "laundering proceeds of crime", Yıldız is accused of "bribery", "tender bidding". A prison sentence of 86 to 251 years is foreseen for the crimes of "sedition" and "fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations".
In the indictment, it was requested that Soytekin be sentenced to imprisonment from 67 to 194 years for the crimes of "bribery", "chain bribery", "extortion" and "laundering of proceeds of crime", while Gülibrahimoğlu was accused of "fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations", "laundering of proceeds of crime", "forgery of documents", "opposition to the Mining Law", "opposition to the Forestry Law", "environment He is asked to be sentenced to imprisonment from 19 years and 6 months to 51 years for the crimes of "causing pollution" and "violating the Tax Procedure Law".
In the indictment demanding Gün's imprisonment from 20 to 40 years for the crimes of "establishing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime" and "giving personal data to someone else, disseminating or seizing", it is stated that these defendants, who are the managers of the organization, should be punished separately as perpetrators for all crimes committed within the framework of the activities of their affiliated structures of the organization.
In the indictment, it is requested that the provisions of "effective repentance" be applied to the defendants Adem Soytekin, Hüseyin Gün and Ertan Yıldız, the organization's managers, who gave information about the crimes committed within the framework of the structure and activities of the organization after they were caught.
In the indictment demanding a prison sentence of 35 to 91 years in total for Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, who was suspended from his duty after his arrest, on charges of "taking bribes" 5 times, "extortion" 2 times, "illegal recording of personal data", "illegal giving or obtaining of personal data" and "being a member of an organization established for the purpose of committing a crime", Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat, who was suspended from his duty after his arrest. It is requested that Çalık be sentenced to a total of 30 to 88 years in prison for 7 counts of "taking bribes" and "being a member of an organization established for the purpose of committing crimes".
COMBINED FILE
The indictment prepared against 7 defendants, including İnan Güney, who was suspended from his post as Beyoğlu Mayor, was also combined with this case.
In the indictment, the defendants İnan Güney, İsmail Akkaya, Seyhan Özcan, Veysel Eren Güven, Sabriye Akkaya, Mehmet Akif Bulut and Deniz Göleli are asked to be sentenced to imprisonment from 9 years and 8 months to 31 years and 8 months each for the crimes of "aiding an organization established for the purpose of committing a crime without being a member" and "fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations".
During the trial process, there are 53 detained defendants in the case, with 57 defendants being released including those in the combined file.
