Ekrem İmamoğlu's demand for a swift indictment on the agenda

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir made important statements following his visit to Marmara Prison in Silivri.

Emir stated that during his meeting with Ekrem İmamoğlu, İmamoğlu expressed that he is not avoiding trial, but that trial without detention is the fundamental principle.

İmamoğlu said that he is demanding a swift indictment process in order to continue serving the people of Istanbul, and that his innocence would be proven in a trial broadcast by TRT.

Emir noted that there are over 100 people detained in the prison and that many cases are unlawful due to a lack of evidence.

Other detainees he visited included Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar and journalist Fatih Altaylı. He reported that Karalar is being held on charges dating back 11 years, and that there are attempts to shut down Altaylı's YouTube channel.

Emir also drew attention to problems in the judicial system, stating that judges are being reassigned due to their rulings and that this situation threatens the independent judiciary.

He expressed that the judges overseeing İmamoğlu's case in particular are under pressure, which makes it difficult to ensure justice.

Finally, Emir emphasized that Turkey needs to achieve a more democratic and free structure, and stated that the people currently detained are paying a price unfairly in this process.

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir paid a visit to Marmara Prison in Silivri.

Group Deputy Chairman Emir said the following in his statement after the visits:

“Over 100 of our friends are being held here as detainees in unrelated cases”

I visited 10 of our friends who are being held in Silivri Prison in a de facto and unlawful manner; our visits continued throughout the day. In fact, if time permitted, we would need to hold meetings here for days. Because over 100 of our friends are being held here as detainees. They are being held de facto here on charges created by the slanders of accusers, in unrelated cases that contain no evidence. Especially in my meeting with Mr. İmamoğlu, he said that the indictment must be written as soon as possible, that he would never avoid being tried, but that the essential thing is to be tried without detention, that as an elected mayor he considers it a duty to serve the people of Istanbul, and therefore he wants to be tried without detention and with a swift indictment, and that in a trial broadcast by TRT, it would be seen one by one by our people that he is innocent and that each of the alleged crimes has been refuted.

“Their real goal is to silence and intimidate society, to silence all voices that could be a risk to them”

Mr. Zeydan Karalar is the same, he should not be here. There is an allegation from 11 years ago, they are making a criminal accusation for 11 years ago. It has nothing to do with it, there is no evidence to support this. Despite this, why is he being held in Silivri? In fact, he is the Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor; if there is an allegation, he should be tried in Adana and should be tried without detention. He is an elder of ours, a party elder, who was elected to serve Adana and is burning with the passion to serve Adana. Likewise, journalist Fatih Altaylı, they put him in prison, it didn't work, now they are trying to silence his YouTube channel, it still doesn't work and it won't. Because we all know that their real goal is to silence and intimidate society, to silence all voices that could be a risk to them, and to create a single-voice Turkey. Otherwise, they couldn't even find an allegation regarding Fatih Altaylı. You know, they couldn't even base it on a single article of law.

'His daughter Vera grew up while Tayfun was inside'

Tayfun Kahraman, we came here for years and said that the Constitutional Court should finally open the file in front of it and take a look. Tayfun Kahraman was not tried properly. We said the Constitutional Court should open it and look, Tayfun has been lying here for 40 months. His daughter Vera, Vera grew up while Tayfun was inside. And now the Constitutional Court has decided that he was not tried correctly. It made a correct decision. Although late, it made a correct decision. We are now waiting for the relevant local court there to start a trial without detention as soon as possible. Likewise, Aykut Erdoğdu, our former deputy friend, our comrade, he should not be here; by law, he should be tried in Ankara. I know the contents of the files, it has nothing to do with it. We met with our Şile Mayor Özgür Kabadayı.

'Let the operations end now. We are now expecting a fair and transparent trial'

When you look at the total here, there is a collapsed file that is being tried to be kept standing based on the slanders of an accuser. It is not right for our friends to stay here even for an hour. Most of them are elected mayors, politicians, and they should be outside, tried without detention, and really, just as an indictment with 400 defendants was written in 18 days in İzmir, at least after this 100th day, Mr. İmamoğlu's file has reached its 104th month. Mr. Ahmet Özer is in his ninth month, although an indictment has been written regarding him. Our Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat has been here for seven months, let the indictments be issued now. Let the operations end now. We are now expecting a fair and transparent trial, and these friends of ours should not have to stay here for even a day.”

To the question, “Sir, how do you evaluate the reassignment of the judges overseeing the Ekrem İmamoğlu case?” Emir gave the following answer.

'They are threatening all judges and prosecutors by saying, "You will do what we say, if you don't, we will change your place of duty"'

We are witnessing that the court is immediately disbanded the moment the judges overseeing some of Ekrem İmamoğlu's cases give a ruling that the government does not want. First, the court panel overseeing the cancellation of his diploma wrote to the university, wrote to the faculty board of directors, wrote to the university board of directors. It said, "Send me the relevant documents." In other words, it said, "How did you, as the university board of directors, sit down and evaluate that this university diploma should be cancelled, send me these documents." This is the right and duty of the court. Because the court did this, they first didn't send all these documents, and afterwards, because the court did this, they disbanded the court.

In the insult case against Akın Gürlek, they are likewise exiling the judge who wrote a dissenting opinion to another place. If you look at it, what they are doing is clear. Defending İmamoğlu is a crime; you know, Mehmet Pehlivan, his lawyer, is in prison. Deciding on his acquittal while trying him or expressing an opinion in this direction is a crime, but keeping him in prison unlawfully, without evidence, without accusations, without any concrete proof, is a requirement to get a "well done" from the palace. A complete law of the enemy is being applied here; it is impossible to talk about justice. Especially, judges should have geographical security. In other words, should a judge be afraid of being exiled because I gave this ruling while making a decision? Should I be afraid that my place of duty will be changed? Especially for such a symbolic personality, our 13th Presidential candidate, the Metropolitan Mayor of Istanbul, elected three times. Now, the judges overseeing this person's file should have been untouchable, at least in accordance with the understanding of geographical security, so that an independent judiciary could function; they cannot even do this. And they are saying this to everyone, they are threatening all judges and prosecutors by saying, "You will do what we say, if you don't, we will change your place of duty, your place of duty will end in another province." This is shaking a finger at the judiciary. It is impossible to expect an independent trial from here on out.

'They are also fighting with technology to achieve this goal'

We also talked about this issue with Mr. Fatih. Blocking the YouTube account once is completely unlawful; there is no such practice. There, first of all, there is no incitement to crime with the words in the program made by Mr. Altaylı, and it is impossible to evaluate the blocking of that program as an encouragement to prevent crime. But they have decided, they will silence Mr. Altaylı, they have decided, they want that YouTube channel, which was watched by two million during that YouTube channel, to no longer be watched; these are their decisions. And they are fighting with technology to achieve this goal. And afterwards, what YouTube said, that is, it is impossible to completely ban a YouTube channel from access. At most, a section, the section within that which is alleged to contain criminal elements, can be removed, but the closure of the entire channel is out of the question. But trying to silence with this, with these, with threats, with pressure, with such legal coercion, with such unusual methods, no longer suits, 21st-century Turkey cannot be like this anymore. Turkey needs democracy, Turkey needs freedom, needs to talk more in every point, in every field, needs everyone to listen to each other more, and needs an independent judiciary and justice. Now we are trying to build such a Turkey, and while trying to build such a Turkey, these friends of ours are actually paying the price for all of us. But no matter what, we will eventually put an end to this evil.

News Source: 12punto