CHP's Günaydın reacts sharply to the postponement of the IMM trial

A new development has occurred in the case opened with a 3,900-page indictment following a financial investigation into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, which includes 402 defendants, including IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, 107 of whom are in custody. The fifth session, which was planned to be held at the Silivri Marmara Closed Prison Courtroom, was postponed before it even began.

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik drew attention to the negative conditions in the courtroom in his statement after the court's decision. Çelik stated, "While there are empty tables in the hall, spectators and members of the press are placed in a very cramped manner. Moreover, journalists and deputies cannot find a suitable area to take notes. In the gallery section, the voice of the court panel cannot be heard. Under these conditions, there is no possibility of effective monitoring."

CHP Group Deputy Chair Gökhan Günaydın described what happened in the courtroom as follows:

“It was said that the statements and interrogations of the 107 detained defendants would be completed within April. As of now, the interrogation of the fourth defendant has not even finished. That means there are 103 defendants left. Their interrogations must be completed. The president of the court made this plan. I did not. So let's ask: How does the court, which could only question four people in a week, plan to finish this work by the end of April, considering the holiday break?

"WHO IS PREVENTING YOU FROM CONDUCTING THE INTERROGATIONS"

He is applying pressure like this; he says, 'I will conduct these interrogations so that I can make interim decisions, including releases.' There is no point in mocking people's intelligence. Among our detained defendant friends here, there are friends whose names are not mentioned in the indictment. There are friends who do not have a prison sentence for the crime they are accused of. Among those who do, there are friends who have been in prison for a year and have completed their sentence. Why didn't you release them when the indictment was accepted? Why didn't you release them with the interim order? Now you say, 'We must be able to conduct the interrogations so that I can make an interim decision.' Well, who is preventing you from conducting the interrogations? You left the court on Thursday. What was the reason? 'Sir, journalists will not sit there.' What was there in the place where the journalists were sitting that disrupted the order of the court? Of course, the journalist wants to hear the dialogue so they can report it. Freedom of interrogation, freedom of the press... What did you talk about with the defendant that they will see, observe, and report?

"IS YOUR GOAL TO SEE THIS TRIAL THROUGH OR NOT TO SEE IT"

You do not provide a place for the press to sit or work. Today, just like you left on Thursday, you are adjourning the court and leaving by saying, 'Why is the deputy sitting there, sir.' And do you know what kind of adjournment it is? Friends, I don't know which faculties these people graduated from. If a presiding judge is going to make an interim decision or adjourn the court, they announce that they are adjourning, say how long they are adjourning for, and say when it will start. The presiding judge just gets up and leaves, an hour passes, and the bailiff announces that the 'court is adjourned.' Where did you study these faculties? Is your goal to see this trial through or not to see it? I am being very clear. We said, 'Let it be broadcast on TRT,' you did not accept it. Why? Because you know the impact that what is told here will have when shared with the public. Now you are trying not to see the trial.

I invite the court panel to do their duty. I invite the Council of Judges and Prosecutors to pay attention to the practices of the 40th High Criminal Court in Istanbul. You cannot end this most important trial in Turkey's history by adjourning and running away. Justice will surely be served. Release our friends whose release time has long passed immediately. There is no need for interrogation for this. You could have released them with the interim order, release them. Take your precautions to conduct the interrogation properly as well. As politicians, deputies, and the organization of the Republican People's Party, we are doing everything in our power to facilitate this work.

"YOU MIGHT BE TRYING TO ADJUST THE CALENDAR OF THIS PLACE TO THE CALENDAR OF POLITICS"

Whether such a case should have existed, whether this case should have fallen to the 40th High Criminal Court, whether the things alleged in the indictment are true, whether they coincide with the material truth, one needs to look at this. Additionally, let me say this: There are 41 high criminal courts at the Çağlayan Courthouse. We guess which of our cases will fall to which High Criminal Court, and it happens exactly as predicted. Is this normal? If this is not normal, then if there is no random natural judge principle and if parallel panels are being assigned to the 40th High Criminal Court, then it is not possible for me to give only a legal answer to this question. You might be trying to increase the suffering of our friends by postponing this place. You might be trying to make a merger with this place by waiting for other cases. You might be trying to adjust the calendar of this place to the calendar of politics. All of these are matters foreign to the law. Pull yourselves together, stay true to the oath you took, and act in accordance with the robes you wear.

Defendant relatives and Republican People's Party deputies are sitting together. If they can pressure the lawyers here, if they can prevent freedom of the press by pushing journalists to the back, if they try to intimidate the deputies, if they try to push back the families they define as spectators with the thought that nothing will come of this, the panel and the defendants will be left alone. We will not leave that panel and those defendants alone. We will continue to be with our friends. Today we sat with the relatives of the detainees or the relatives of the defendants and talked about all of this. There is solidarity among us. If the deputies were not here, there is no guarantee of how far the judge would take which practice. Therefore, our friends here are here for a fair trial and at the same time to protect the rights and laws of the detainees.”

DİLEK İMAMOĞLU: "IT IS AS IF A THEATER PLAY IS BEING PERFORMED"

Ekrem İmamoğlu's wife, Dilek Kaya İmamoğlu, made the following statements:

“The window I look through is not an emotional window after this point. The only thing we want as families here is for everything to proceed within a legal framework. As my deputy mentioned a moment ago, we have started to spend our days here over a case that perhaps shouldn't even exist. We spent a year. Now we have actually started to spend our days as if a theater play is being performed, and today is one of those days. Therefore, we have expressed many times that it should be broadcast live on TRT so that everything proceeds in a fair and transparent manner. Because we trust ourselves, we trust our loved ones. We also know that the indictment consists entirely of empty pages. After seeing this trust of ours and the indictment, of course, let alone being broadcast live on TRT, the order in the courtroom is also being interfered with, but as a human being, you tolerate everything up to a point. After a point, everything comes to a point where you can no longer tolerate it.

"AFTER THIS HOUR, WE ARE LOOKING AT IT NOT EMOTIONALLY, BUT LEGALLY"

Pressing the press into a corner is a form of behavior that should not exist in a state of law, in a democratic country. Freedom of the press, freedom of the press, is one of the most fundamental pillars of democracy. How will the press report to the outside when they cannot hear the voices of the panel and the defendants at the very back? Therefore, my deputies have to intervene in this, and the court panel also needed to have a positive intervention in this. But we are experiencing the exact opposite. Today, even though the lawyer sections are empty, no one is being taken there, neither from the incoming spectators nor from the deputy lawyers. Why? That is what is being fought for. In the end, the situation you have reached is obvious. As families, we are looking at this event not emotionally, but legally after this hour.”

News Source: 12punto