Which prison will Ekrem İmamoğlu be taken to first? Lawyer Onur Cingil speaks to 12punto

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained in a dawn operation on the morning of March 19 as part of 'terrorism' and 'corruption' investigations launched against him.

A decision was made today regarding İmamoğlu, who has been held in custody for 4 days. While İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption charges, the request for his arrest in the terrorism investigation was rejected.

Following the arrest decision, the question of which prison İmamoğlu would be sent to became a subject of curiosity.

CHP lawyer Cingil spoke to 12punto regarding the matter.

Stating that İmamoğlu would first be taken to Paşakapısı Prison, Lawyer Cingil reported that he would later be transferred to Silivri Prison.

In his statement to 12punto, Cingil noted the following:

"We have been following the investigation from the very beginning. The investigation is completely empty. It was an investigation that proceeded through a secret witness, with no evidence whatsoever.

The reasons for the accusations are political. Unfortunately, they arrested him regarding corruption. In the terrorism case, they rejected the arrest request.

We have the right to appeal the arrest decision regarding corruption. The prosecution also has the right to appeal the other.

Just as the prosecution conducted the investigation incorrectly, they also managed the process incorrectly. They are incompetent in these matters. The public has disrupted this game.

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They make a decision. When you look at it, they don't even know whether the arrest request leads to the appointment of a trustee or not. As a legal professional, I can say this: under the current situation, a trustee should not be appointed. Because if there had been strong suspicion of a crime regarding terrorism, an arrest decision would have been made. There is no such evidence.

Furthermore, regarding what we call urban consensus, the government is currently pursuing a national consensus.

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Our mayors of Beylikdüzü and Şişli cannot be arrested either. A betrayal of Istanbul has been committed today.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

The public is currently disrupting the game. I think they were going to appoint a trustee... But when they saw the public's reaction, they took a step back.

They can currently appeal the rejection of the arrest request.

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"THEY WILL SEND MAYOR EKREM TO PAŞAKAPISI PRISON"

Because he is a mayor and a public official, they will bring Mayor Ekrem to Paşakapısı Prison. After that, it is clear they will transfer him to Silivri. But we will see him released as soon as possible.

"IF THERE WERE RULE OF LAW, THIS INVESTIGATION WOULD NOT EXIST"

My legal commentary was perhaps 25 percent. But there isn't even 25 percent rule of law in Turkey. That is why I am trying to make a more general comment. If there were rule of law, this investigation would not exist today.

News Source : 12punto