The first hearing of the case in which singer İlyas Yalçıntaş was tried with a prison sentence of not less than 10 years for the crime of 'trafficking or supplying drugs or stimulants' was held at the 19th High Criminal Court of the Istanbul Palace of Justice. The detained defendant İlyas Yalçıntaş and his lawyers attended the hearing.
"I USED COCAINE IN ENGLAND TO TRY IT 6 MONTHS AGO"
In his defense, the detained defendant İlyas Yalçıntaş said, "I am a well-known singer. I am ashamed and saddened to be faced with such a file. I deny the crime of 'trafficking or supplying drugs or stimulants'. I regret to say that I was a cannabis user. I used cocaine with a British citizen in England 6 months ago to try it. It disturbed me extremely when I used it. Since I am a person who is followed by the public and I do not want to set a bad example to my followers, I said that I used drugs in my first statement to the prosecutor's office." I denied using it. However, I corrected this issue in my statement at the Criminal Court of Peace. I had used drugs before, but I did not supply drugs to anyone. I used it alone at my home. As for my messages, I am a person who always uses street jargon with my close friends. I reject what the informant said. "I'm under it; rats ran over me. I don't think I deserve this punishment at all," he said.
"I AM TALKING ABOUT TOBACCO"
In the prosecutor's messages, 'Do you have the possibility to solve it?' When asked what the question means, Yalçıntaş said, "This is the correspondence I had with my assistant. He does all my shopping. I was using tobacco at that time. The correspondence here is about the tobacco my assistant will buy. The correspondence may have been misunderstood. The correspondence here is about the use of tobacco. What I call 'my box' is the mailbox that belongs to me. It is quite large. It is a large box where my assistant leaves my belongings after shopping."
"WE COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING ELSE THAT COULD BE A CRIMINAL ELEMENT"
Witness A.S. said, "I work as a specialist sergeant in the Narcotic Crimes unit of the Istanbul Provincial Gendarmerie Command. I know the defendant because of the incident. I have no information about the proceedings against him, I only made a search. The place we searched was a duplex house belonging to the defendant. There was an empty jar, two drug grinders and a jar in the bedroom, and a precision scale in the kitchen. There were crumbs in the jar. Since we did not know what it was, we sent it for examination. Apart from that, there were elements of crime." "We did not find anything else that could have happened. I have no knowledge or experience that the defendant used or obtained drugs," he said.
IT WAS DECIDED TO RELEASE YALÇINTAŞ
In its interim decision, the court decided to release the defendant İlyas Yalçıntaş with a judicial control measure in the form of a signature obligation. The hearing was postponed to December 15 to correct the missing issues.
FROM THE INDICTMENT
In the indictment prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was stated that an investigation was launched against singer İlyas Yalçıntaş upon intelligence information that some publicly known names used drugs or stimulants and offered them to each other. It was reported that during the searches made at Yalçıntaş's address, two marijuana grinding devices, precision scales and a jar containing plant crumbs were seized, and that the conversations he had with people registered as "Aytaç Kartt" and "Mami Rodi" in the messages on his phone were considered to be related to drug trafficking. In the indictment, it was noted that Yalçıntaş stated in his statement that he did not use drugs, that the substance in the jar was thyme, that the grinders were a gift from his friend, and that the sensitive scale was an item he used to control his diet. It was stated that the active ingredient of marijuana, THC metabolite, and cocaine were detected in blood and hair samples. A prison sentence of not less than 10 years was requested for Yalçıntaş for the crime of "trafficking or supplying drugs or stimulants". The indictment accepted by the Bakırköy High Criminal Court was sent to the Istanbul 19th High Criminal Court following the decision of lack of jurisdiction due to the defendant's address being outside the jurisdiction of the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
