Medyascope journalist Furkan Karabay has been placed under house arrest pending trial on charges of “publicly spreading misleading information”, following an investigation linked to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), which has seen dozens of opposition figures and Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu arrested.

Karabay was detained in the early hours of 23 January as part of the İBB investigation, which has seen dozens of opposition figures detained, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. His lawyer, Enes Ermaner, announced the detention on X. After giving a statement to prosecutors, Karabay was referred to court with a request for pre-trial detention. The court later ordered that he be placed under house arrest while awaiting trial.

The case centres on an article Karabay published on 8 December concerning documents in the İBB corruption investigation file relating to Adem Soytekin, a construction businessman and a key suspect who later became a witness in the case. Karabay reported on documents indicating that authorisation had been granted for approximately 120 million Turkish lira to be transferred from a seized bank........

© Medyascope