03.02.2025 14:51
In the case regarding the crimes of 'bribery' and 'extortion' against the Beşiktaş Municipality, the opinion was announced. The prosecution requested that 7 defendants, including former Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Hazinedar, be sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison for the repeated offense of 'misuse of office.'
The trial of the defendants, including former Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Hazinedar, who are accused of committing the crimes of 'extortion' and 'bribery', continued.
In the recent hearing held at the Istanbul 31st Heavy Penal Court, 8 defendants, including Murat Hazinedar and Hüseyin Avni Sipahi, appeared without detention. The defendants' lawyers also attended the hearing.
OPINION ANNOUNCED
During the hearing, the public prosecutor, who presented the opinion regarding the merits of the case, stated that the deputy mayor responsible for zoning at Beşiktaş Municipality was once the defendant Rıfat Örnek, and that council member Hüseyin Avni Sipahi had no official authority regarding zoning matters. It was reported that the defendant Mayor Murat Hazinedar allocated a special office for Sipahi on the 4th floor of the municipality and that the zoning application documents were reviewed by Sipahi.
In the announced opinion, it was stated that applications regarding zoning matters first went to the Beşiktaş Municipality Department of Zoning and Urbanism, and that applications with complete documents were processed and then taken to Sipahi by the defendant Uğur Şahin, who was Sipahi's advisor. Upon Sipahi's instruction, Şahin called the applicant with complete zoning documents to come to Sipahi's office for a meeting, informing the applicant that they needed to deposit money into the Beşiktaş Municipality Beltaş Foundation for the approval of the zoning documents; otherwise, the zoning documents would not be approved.
ILLEGAL DONATIONS RECEIVED
It was noted in the opinion that most applicants believed they would suffer losses if their zoning documents were not approved, and therefore, they consented to deposit money into the Beltaş Foundation, transferring funds to the account number provided by the defendant Şahin. It was stated that the zoning application documents were sent to Rıfat Örnek, who was responsible for zoning, upon Sipahi's instruction, and that the zoning approval process was completed. Similarly, it was expressed that money was demanded from individuals applying for licenses, and thus, money was unlawfully taken from business owners, indicating that donations were either received or attempted to be received from business owners seeking licenses. Additionally, it was recorded that defendant Hazinedar requested complainants to make donations to the municipality.
REQUEST FOR UP TO 4 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS IN PRISON
In the announced opinion, it was requested that defendants Murat Hazinedar, Hüseyin Avni Sipahi, Rıfat Örnek, Mürvet Günday, Selçuk Bartınlı, Çetin Kırışgil, and Mustafa Sarı be sentenced to separate prison terms of 4 years and 6 months, ranging from 10 months to 15 days for the crime of 'abuse of office'. It was requested that the defendants be acquitted of other charges against them due to insufficient evidence that could eliminate all reasonable doubt. The opinion also requested the acquittal of the other 9 defendants on the charges against them for the same reason.
HEARING ADJOURNED
The court, announcing its interim decision, ruled to adjourn the hearing to give the defendants' lawyers time to prepare their defense against the announced opinion.
FROM THE INDICTMENT
In the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was requested that suspect Murat Hazinedar be sentenced to a total of 70 years and 6 months to 154 years in prison for 'attempting to commit extortion', 'extortion', 'bribery', and 'abuse of office'. It was requested that suspect Hüseyin Avni Sipahi be sentenced to 43.5 to 96 years for the same crimes, suspect Rıfat Örnek to 29 to 62 years, Çetin Kırışgil to 10 to 20 years, and the other defendants to varying prison terms between 4 and 37 years.