House arrest orders lifted in Saraçhane arrests: 5 people released

It has been ruled that the house arrest orders for those among the 28 individuals detained in Saraçhane—some of whom were held in prison—who were subject to judicial control in the form of house arrest, are to be lifted. 5 people have also been released.

The Istanbul 6th Criminal Court of First Instance lifted the house arrest orders for those among the 28 defendants—some of whom were held in prison and others under house arrest after being detained in Saraçhane, Istanbul—and 5 people were released.

Lawyer Fırat Aras made the following statement regarding the matter:

"In their reasoning, the court judge noted that, as stated in many Constitutional Court decisions, the judicial control measure of not leaving one's residence falls under the right to personal liberty and security regulated in Article 19 of the Constitution, just like detention; therefore, the existence of conditions for detention is required to decide on the aforementioned judicial control measure. Considering that all evidence regarding the crime charged against the defendants... who were subject to the judicial control measure of not leaving their residence has been collected, and therefore there is no possibility of destroying or altering evidence, and taking into account that the defendants were detained at their residences, that they have fixed places of residence, that there are no concrete facts indicating they would flee, and considering the lower and upper limits of the prison sentence stipulated in Article 32/1 of Law No. 2911, as well as the dates on which the defendants were detained and subsequently subjected to judicial control measures, the continuation of the judicial control measure would not be proportionate. Furthermore, the court decided to apply the judicial control measure of a travel ban to 15 defendants who were allegedly involved in the same crime in a similar manner."

WHAT HAPPENED?

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is also the President of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (TBB) and the CHP's presidential primary candidate, was detained on March 19 as part of an investigation into 'terrorism' and 'corruption' conducted against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and was arrested on March 23. İmamoğlu was taken to Silivri Prison after being arrested on charges of "rigging tenders, recording personal data, bribery, and establishing an organization" within the scope of the "corruption" investigation into the IMM. Following his arrest, he was removed from his position as Mayor of the IMM by a decision of the Ministry of Interior.