Mehmet Pehlivan, a lawyer representing jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu who was detained late on Thursday, has been released under judicial supervision, according to the Turkish media.
Pehlivan is accused of money laundering. He was released from police custody on Friday afternoon.
Reacting to the detention of his lawyer on X, İmamoğlu had demanded his immediate release.
“My lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan was detained on fictitious grounds,” İmamoğlu said in a tweet published by his legal team.
“As if the coup against democracy was not enough, they can’t tolerate the victims defending themselves,” he wrote, adding, “Release my lawyer immediately.”
In his statement to prosecutors, Pehlivan denied the accusations against him, saying he was being targeted for representing the jailed mayor. He accused prosecutors of conducting investigations based on erroneous and false reports as well as witness statements rooted in gossip.
Two more Turkish journalists were also detained in dawn raids on their homes for covering the mass protests that have swept across the country, sparked by İmamoğlu’s arrest on March 19, the Turkish Journalists’ Union (TGS) said in a post on X.
The union identified them as Nisa Sude Demirel, a reporter for the Evrensel newspaper, and Elif Bayburt, who works for the ETHA news agency.
“Another dawn raid. Two of our colleagues who were following the Saraçhane protests were detained,” the union said, referring to the protests by using the name of the neighborhood where İstanbul City Hall is located.
“Let journalists do their job! Stop these unlawful detentions!” the union said.
On Thursday Turkish authorities released the last of 11 journalists who had been arrested in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgül.