Istanbul court hands prison terms to 6 mayors in corruption case

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court has sentenced six mayors to prison terms ranging from nearly six years to more than 23 years on corruption-related charges.

The elected mayors, who were arrested between January and July last year, were all members of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which has faced a wave of investigations and arrests over the past year.

Rıza Akpolat, mayor of Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, was sentenced to 23 years and three months in prison on charges including bid-rigging, bribery and money laundering.

Istanbul’s Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for receiving bribes. He was acquitted of the charge of rigging public tenders

Zeydan Karalar, mayor of the southern city of Adana, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for bribery.

Turkish media reported that Kadir Aydar, mayor of Ceyhan district in Adana province, received a prison sentence of five years and 10 months.

Oya Tekin, mayor of Seyhan district in Adana, was sentenced to eight years and fourt months in prison for taking bribes.

The court acquitted Abdurrahman Tutdere, mayor of the southeastern city of Adıyaman, while Ahmet Özer, the former mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district, received a suspended sentence of eight months and 10 days for abuse of office.

The court also acquitted all defendants, including businessman Aziz İhsan Aktaş, of charges of leading, aiding or belonging to a criminal organization.

The court ruled that it had not been established that the alleged offences had been committed.

The high-profile trial involved around 200 defendants and was dubbed the “Aktaş case” by Turkish media after the businessman, whom prosecutors had accused of leading the alleged criminal network and sought a prison sentence of up to 280 years.

The first hearing of the trial was held on Jan. 27, after the court accepted the indictment. During the roughly six-month period between the first hearing and July 29, the court held 59 hearings.

The number of defendants in pretrial detention, which stood at 33 when the trial began, has fallen to five following a series of release rulings.