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İmamoğlu's lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan arrested

Ekrem İmamoğlu’s lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan, had been summoned to the prosecutor's office to provide a statement. The prosecutor's office had requested his arrest.

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The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into lawyer Pehlivan regarding certain allegations made in the statements of detained suspect Adem Soytekin and non-detained suspect Servet Yıldırım, who provided statements under effective remorse provisions.

Pehlivan was summoned to the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan to provide a statement as part of the investigation.

After completing his procedures at the prosecutor's office, Pehlivan was referred to the duty magistrate with a request for his arrest on charges of "membership in an organization established to commit crimes."

It was learned that Pehlivan did not provide a statement at the prosecutor's office, citing the reason that "under the Attorneyship Law, his statement was requested without obtaining authorization for investigation from the Ministry of Justice."

Mehmet Pehlivan was arrested on charges of "membership in a criminal organization."

REFERRAL DOCUMENT

In the referral document sent by the prosecutor's office to the criminal judgeship of peace, it was stated that the statements of suspect Servet Yıldırım, given on June 2 under effective remorse, and the statement of suspect Adem Soytekin, given under the same scope starting at 11:00 AM on June 16 and ending at 01:00 AM the following day, contained claims that Pehlivan acted within the scope of the organization.

The document stated that Soytekin and Yıldırım alleged that before March 19, Pehlivan planned which lawyers would follow the investigation process for suspects under investigation during their detention and subsequent periods, thereby aiming to access the statements of individuals whose testimonies were taken in the file, and that he organized the lawyers of suspects currently detained within the scope of the file as part of the organization's activities.

The referral document noted that Soytekin and Yıldırım claimed that Pehlivan pressured detained suspects who wanted to provide statements in the case, directed lawyers under his control to the prisons where the suspects were held, and that these lawyers pressured the suspects with suggestions not to speak, and that Pehlivan engaged in actions aimed at preventing the dissolution of the organization.

The prosecutor's referral document recorded the following:

"It is requested on behalf of the public that the suspect be arrested, considering that he holds an important position within the criminal organization, acted with the aim of preventing the organization from dispersing and dissolving, and therefore there is strong suspicion of a crime based on concrete evidence that he is included in the hierarchical structure of the criminal organization, and that there are strong grounds for suspicion that the suspect will obscure evidence and pressure suspects and witnesses who are outside."

FIRST STATEMENT FROM MEHMET PEHLİVAN AFTER THE ARREST DECISION

“I have been arrested on the slander of 'membership in a criminal organization.' Yet, the only organization I am a member of is the Union of Turkish Bar Associations and the Istanbul Bar Association. That is, the honorable defense tradition of this country. I have never been part of a criminal structure or a setup scenario. I never will be.

This is a clear judicial setup. And the only reason, as everyone knows, is that I am Ekrem İmamoğlu’s lawyer. Their goal is to intimidate, silence, and isolate. They are trying in vain. Because we lawyers do not surrender.

I address this twisted mentality that considers being a lawyer for İmamoğlu a crime: If you declare this duty a 'shirt of fire,' know that we have already worn that shirt; we will not burn. I will go, and hundreds will come in my place. Because we are on the side of the righteous. Because we do not bow, we do not stay silent, we do not give up.

Because our practice of law does not yield.”