A heavy penal court in Turkey's western province of Izmir acquitted Mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu and 128 other municipality officials from corruption charges and a subsequent lawsuit launched by prosecutors allegedly linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
The indictment prepared by Prosecutor Birol Çengil, who was detained as part of investigations launched after the July 15 coup attempt and discharged from profession by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) had sought up to 397 years of prison for Kocaoğlu alone, who was being accused of managing a criminal organization.
In the raids conducted in 2011 upon the indictment targeting municipality run by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) with charges of "tender corruption, establishing a criminal organization, failing to report a crime and misconduct," 130 people were detained and 18 were arrested, only to be released in 2012, while one of the arrested suspects, Alaattin Eraslan, died of cancer in 2013.
The case was transferred to the Izmir 7th Heavy Penal Court as special authorized penal courts - extensively used by FETÖ-linked judges and prosecutors in "intrigue" cases - were shut down.
The new prosecutor assigned to the case dismissed earlier charges brought before the court, noting that a hierarchical crime network was not present, evidence was gathered illegally and statements from anonymous witness could not be counted as evidence, and asked for the acquittal of the suspects.
The court ruled for the acquittal of all suspects related to the case and decided to press charges against public officials involved in the 2011 investigation.
Upon the court ruling, Mayor Kocaoğlu said they believed in justice and wanted justice for the last five years, and the court confirmed that they had not carried out any illegal work.
Bülent Delican, the provincial chairman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said in a written statement that they had long understood that this was a case launched by FETÖ to create confrontation between the AK Party and the CHP, and they had not used the case politically against the CHP.