The 12th hearing of the case of the three Protestants who were killed in Malatya for allegedly doing missionary work will be held at Malatya’s 3rd High Criminal Court on October 16.

On April 18, 2007, the Zirve Publishing building was raided and three Protestants Necati Aydın, Uğur Yüksel, German citizen Tilman Ekkehart Geske were brutally murdered.

Emre Günaydın, Salih Gürler, Cuma Özdemir, Hamit Çeker ve Abuzer Yıldırım, who have been in the Malatya E Type Prison for the past 18 months, are accused of the murder.

The court will hear Aral, if it can find him

The court would like to hear the testimony of Varol Bülent Aral, whom Emre Günaydın had described as a brother working at a local newspaper. Aral’s name had also appeared in threatening and harassing Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a joint lawyer in this case.

Aral will answer court’s and lawyer’s questions, if it can be brought to the court.

Günaydın describes Aral as a person who saw a connection between the missionary work and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). In his statement that appeared in daily Star, Günaydın says,   “We together went to some house in those days. This was a house of single men. We were alone. I saw a piece of paper on the table by the entrance that was titled PKK’s European Council Report. I said, brother, what is this? He told me that it was the report the PKK had presented to the European Council. Once again he told me that Christianity and the missionary work done in its name had the goal of destroying then the motherland. I asked him if someone should not stop this? He told me to then get up and stop this. I asked him how it could be done. He said they would provide us with the state support.”

Moreover, the court is waiting to see the Ergenekon indictment as decided in the previous hearing of August 21. The court had also decided to have Ebubekir Öktem brought to the court by force and hear Yıldız Özdemir as a witness.

Işıklı: Emre sent a message to me saying “I will be under interrogation”

Turna Işıklı said that she had sent Günaydın a message on April 18, 2007 to meet him a day before the murders and his reply was, “I will be under interrogation on that day.”

Another witness the court heard was Mahmut Budaş. Budaş said that he had talked only with Cumali Özdemir before the murders. He remembers Özdemir telling him “There are 49 church houses in Malatya. We will conduct a work/activity about them.” When he asked him who the people were in this work, his answer was Emre Günaydın.

Cumali Özdemir was also heard saying, to Mehmet Uludağ, one of the witnesses in the case, that “There are two more people with me. It will be big. These people may die, if they are in betrayal, but if they are not then they may stay alive. I will tell you everything, if I survive. (EÖ/EÜ/TB)