Analysis
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The last hearing in the second session of the Istanbul Municipality case regarding corruption accusations closed before 6 p.m. for the first time on Sept. 17, after weeks of hearings that had stretched late into the night.
CHP Chair Özgür Özel said he has evidence that some prosecutors and lawyers pressured defendants in the Istanbul Municipality cases to falsely confess to paying bribes in exchange for release. The following day, lawyer Mehmet Yıldırım was detained on the orders of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.