Release for 8 defendants in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality case

In the 'Corruption' case against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, 436 defendants, 46 of whom were detained, including Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was suspended from his duty, appeared before the judge at the 109th hearing.

The hearing prosecutor requested the continued detention of all detained defendants. The hearing was adjourned for 1 hour.

RELEASE DECISION FOR 8 DEFENDANTS

The court decided to release Mehmet Pehlivan, Fatoş Pınar Türker, Fatoş Ayık, Serhat Kapki, Ahmet Köksal, Onur Aldı, Volkan Ateş and Murat Or.

The hearing was postponed to January 4, 2027.

“THEY CREATED CONFESSIONALS FROM THE PEOPLE THEY PUT IN PRISON”

Media Inc. While requesting release, Chairman of the Board of Directors Murat Ongun said, "I said in my defense and every time I came here, and I still say that not even one person will mention my name for bribery. You listened to almost 500 people. Did one person say? What we heard most was 'I heard it, I heard it from the market, I heard it from the industry'. We should not have been arrested legally in the first place. They invented an effect when there was no reason, and then they created confessors from the people they put in prison. They made accusations against the desired target people, and they were successful." "As a member of the great Turkish nation, I, too, learned to get out of the bind from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. It may take time, but I will get out of this bind. I commemorate him with respect and gratitude on the 88th anniversary of his death."

“I WAS ARRESTED WITH FABRICED WORDS”

Fatih Keleş, President of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club, said, "The investigation authority describes me as İmamoğlu's safe, in some parts the organization's safe, and in some places I am the most important person. I am a so-called organization manager who is wanted to be punished for 149 acts, but whose title is unknown. Even the accusation attributed to me and the position in which the investigation authority has placed me are unclear. Neither in the main indictment nor in the supplementary indictment is it possible to say on which material evidence the descriptions of the safe or the most important person are based, on which decision the so-called criminal organization is based." My involvement in the mechanism and how my managerial qualifications were manifested cannot be explained by a single concrete action. The indictment is a lavishly distributed punishment campaign. Whose actions did I deserve? What instructions did I give? There is no video record, no banking transaction, no contract, no written evidence. I was arrested with false promises. "I have not signed a false fiction, I will not operate a slander mechanism under effective repentance. I have not accused others unfairly, I will not. The biggest reason why I have been detained before you for 20 months is because I refused to do so."

“IT IS OBVIOUS THAT DOZENS OF PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED BY SECRET WITNESS STATEMENTS”