He argued with the presiding judge: CHP's Turan Taşkın Özer recounts what happened at the IMM trial

The session of the trial held at the Istanbul 40th High Criminal Court, which includes 402 defendants, including IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, was scheduled to take place at the Silivri Marmara Closed Prison Courtroom by the court's decision. However, the expected hearing was postponed until tomorrow by the decision of the presiding judge.

As the trial, which has caused a great stir in the city, entered its second week, Gendarmerie teams requested that CHP Istanbul MP Turan Taşkın Özer, who attended the hearing in his lawyer's robe, change his seat in the area reserved for lawyers. Reacting to the situation, Özer opposed what was happening, saying, "This is not a prison. I came here as a lawyer. I am taking my notes, and the indictment is open in front of me. Enough is enough. If he cannot manage it, he should not do it."

Following the arguments, the Presiding Judge announced that the hearing had been postponed.

"THIS IS MY VESTED RIGHT"

Turan Taşkın Özer, who is also the Chairman of the CHP High Disciplinary Board, emphasized that his profession is law and stated the following:

"We are lawyers registered with the Istanbul Bar Association. As long as we are not actually defending a defendant, there is no legal obstacle to us sitting on the lawyers' side here. There is no obstacle in terms of the integrity of the hearing either. I insisted on saying there: 'I am a lawyer registered with the Istanbul Bar Association. I have my lawyer ID around my neck. This is a vested right of mine. I have my robe on. At the same time, the indictment is open in front of me. I am taking notes here. I am taking separate notes for all hearing days. Therefore, I need an environment where I can work. Therefore, I need to sit in a place with a table.'

But the judge of the court, perhaps having no intention of holding a hearing, says something like this: 'He turns around and says he is reserving seats for MPs on the spectator side.' I say, look, being an MP is my duty. I am actually a lawyer. Therefore, there is no legal obstacle to me sitting here. And for this, I do not need to have a power of attorney, I do not need to have a proxy, and I do not need to defend any defendant. It is not a hearing with a confidentiality order; it is an open hearing. It is my most natural right to follow this for my professional development as well. I tried to explain this. I tried to explain it at length. But I guess he has no intention of holding a hearing. He said, 'I am leaving here.'

Look, I even offered him a suggestion. I said: 'If you are uneasy about me taking images, which if you think you will have such a problem, I will hand over my phone and enter. Which I shouldn't have to do legally, but since you are uneasy, if you are worried about me taking images or calling out to a defendant, I will move to the very back of that table side. As long as there is a table in front of me and I can work.'

We presented those suggestions to the judge, but he made a discretion. In this discretion, he has no intention of holding a hearing. If he had the intention, he wouldn't do this. If he had the intention, he would say: 'Since you are already seated, move to the very back, sit somewhere at the bottom. May it be easier for your work.' Because we are working, look. Therefore, he has no intention of holding a hearing. And because he has no intention, he said, 'I canceled the hearing today'."

Criticizing the court's decision not to continue the hearing, Özer argued that the judge did not want to hold the hearing on the grounds that an appropriate working environment was not provided despite his suggestions.

CANCELLATION INFORMATION CAME THROUGH THE BAILIFF

Stating that they learned about the developments regarding the postponed hearing from the court bailiff, Özer continued:

"He (the Presiding Judge) did not deign to come out and say it. He sees this as a psychological war, a struggle for psychological superiority, but we do not see it that way. We want to do our job. The party has assigned us a shift: 'You will follow this case,' it said. We will listen to the defendants there. We will listen to those who are witnesses there. We will listen to the detainees, we will listen to those who are not detained. We will observe the attitude of the court. We will look at the attitude of the bailiff, we will observe, and we will inform the press, because you experienced the same problem. He took you to that side too, he took you to an area that makes it difficult for you to do your job, again.

Therefore, he is turning this into a psychological war. There is no need to turn it into one. We are not in a psychological war. We want to do our job. He should do his job too. I am not shouting there. I am not calling out. I am not disrupting the order of the hearing. I do not have the slightest movement contrary to the integrity. I am sitting, I am taking notes on what is being said at the hearing. I am following this case. Therefore, he prevented this."

Özer also stated that members of the press were subjected to a similar practice in the previous session and that the attitude of the presiding judge caused problems. He pointed out that the presiding judge did not act in accordance with procedures with the words, "No harm in a simile. It's like saying, 'I'm sulking, I'm not playing.' He says, 'I'm leaving.' He leaves and goes."

News Source: 12punto