Bolu 3rd Heavy Penal Court Sentences Tanju Özcan to 7 Years 3 Months 15 Days Imprisonment

Bolu 3rd Heavy Penal Court sentenced former Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan to 7 years 3 months 15 days imprisonment on charges of extortion by abuse of authority; he was acquitted of qualified fraud allegations in the same case.

The second day of the trial's third hearing was completed; 19 defendants, four of them in custody including Özcan, were tried.

According to the prosecution's opinion, Bolu Municipality sought to conclude advertising contracts in favor of BolSev AŞ, a company in which the Boluyu Seviyorum Social Aid and Solidarity Foundation (BolSev) held a stake, with markets in the city; it was alleged that markets that rejected the proposal subsequently faced police inspections and committee sanctions.

Regarding the 'Sacrifice' matter, it was claimed that BolSev's sacrifice donation account received 845 thousand lira in contributions equivalent to 65 shares from 34 donors, and that foundation records contained no entry matching this money to sacrifice purchases or slaughter. For this scope, suspended sentences ranging from 1 year 15 days to 1 year 8 months were given to 34 victims on a per-person basis.

Özcan acknowledged in his defense that advertising contracts with markets were intended to be concluded; he stated, 'If we wanted to commit extortion, we would not have submitted a written proposal.' He also argued that the inspections were lawful.

Özcan was taken into custody in an operation targeting Bolu Municipality on February 28; he was arrested on March 2 on charges of extortion by abuse of authority, and was removed from office by the Interior Ministry on March 3. On April 4, he was arrested for a second time on charges of qualified fraud.