Protest of Generals at the Courtroom

At the 91. hearing of Sledgehammer case, when some of the defendants wore t-shirts writing "We demand fair trial" the Chief Judge got angry and said "Priggish" to them. He added "So far we've treated you tolerant. You crossed your legs, you sat there turning your back and we told you nothing" and then he asked them to leave the courtroom. At Sledgehammer case, 365 people are on trial and 250 of them are imprisoned.

180 defendants participated to the hearing including Retired Colonel Dursun Çiçek, former Air Force Commander General İbrahim Fırtına, former Naval Forces Commander Admiral Özden Örnek, the former 1. Army Commander retired General Çetin Doğan, General Bilgin Balanlı and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party ) Istanbul deputy retired Lieutenant General Engin Alan.

Chief Judge Ömer Diken asked for the identification of those 40 people wearing  t-shirts and thereupon some of the defendants left the courtroom.

"I also wore this t-shirt"

According to CNNTürk news, Chief Judge Ömer Diken called the roll of the imprisoned defendants at the hearing and asked the defendants to stand up one by one and tell their names. In the meantime, Chief Judge Ömer Diken indicated that some of the defendants were wearing t-shirts written, "We demand fair trial" and asked "Did you wear them to protest?" Some of the defendants said "Yes" and some of them stood up and said "I also wore this t-shirt". Thereupon, Chief Judge Ömer Diken said "This is called priggishness, why are you interrupting us? These are findings of the court ". Colonel Judge Ahmet Zeki Üçok answered, "You cannot say 'priggish' to us. "

"You arrested us unjustly"

Chief Judge Ömer Diken asked the defendants to stand up one by one and tell their names and said "You do not even deign to stand up before the Court". In the meantime, arrested defendant Colonel Mustafa Önsel said "I do not have to stand up. We know when to stand up. However, I just stand up for you to see my t-shirt". When Chief Judge Ömer Diken said "So far we treated you tolerant. You crossed your legs, you sat there turning your back and we told you nothing", and defendant Mustafa Önsel answered "You arrested us unjustly. You didn't allow us speak". Thereupon Diken asked Önsel to leave the courtroom. Önsel left the room by saying "I am already going" and some of the defendants wearing t-shirts to protest also left the room.

"Inhibiting the judiciary has no benefit"

Chief Judge Ömer Diken mentioned that some of the lawyers presented a petition to the court and asked for 3 months in order to make presentations against dictum. He said  "Couldn't they examine, read the files; what's the purpose here, I couldn't get it" and added:

Problems in law are solved through legal means. Wearing t-shirts, making statements to media do not provide benefit.

The decision of the court about this trial is not clear. There's no problem if it ends in favor of you, but if it ends disadvantageous to you, then you file an appeal. One of the arrested defendants, Major General Ahmet Yavuz said "We do not aim to extend the period of the trials. We have one demand. We want this CD No.11 to be sent to the court expert." The defendant lawyers Kazım Yiğit Akalın and Kemal Yener Saraçoğlu asked for two court experts at the hearing in order to comment about the digital data in the file. The court gave a break to the hearing to assess this demand. (EKN)