Secret Defendant in JITEM Case Withdraws Statement

The trial against Colonel Cemal Temizöz, Gendarmerie Regiment Commander of the city of Kayseri, former mayor of Cizre Kamil Atağ, his son Tamer Atağ and confessors Adem Yakin, Hıdır Altuğ and Fırat Altın (Abdulhakim Güven) has been continued before the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court.

The second hearing took place last week and dealt with 22 unsolved murder casese between 1993-96. It was decided to arrest defendant Kukel Atağ who was not in detention until now but did not attend the second hearing.

Cemal Temizöz is a former commander of the Gendarmerie Intelligence Anti-Terrorism Unit (JİTEM), a clandestine and highly illegal gendarmerie intelligence unit set up in the late 1980s to counter ethnic separatism in the southeast of Turkey.

HRF: Steps for democratization must be taken quickly

According to CNN Türk, Human Rights Association (HRF) chairman and Diyarbakır Branch chair lawyer Muharrem Erbey organized a sit-in protest together with relatives and friends of the victims in front of the court house. The action was a reminder to the fact that Turkey has lost many cases from this region at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) because of violations of rights.

"Crucial steps towards democratization must be taken quickly. Our sit-in protest will last until the end of the hearing".

7 lawyers attended the hearing for the defense of the defendants, among them Diyarbakır Bar Association chairman Mehmet Emin Aktar. Almost 40 lawyers appear in the court as intervener.

Altın: Statement made under the name of "Ball-point Pen" invalid

The indictment read in the second hearing contained a statement of almost 35 pages prepared by defendant Fırat Altın under the name of secret witness "Ball-point Pen". The defendant had apparently changed his name in 1995 from Abdülhakim Güven into Fırat Altın.

After leaving the militant Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), Altın passed information about the terror organization on to security forces and stated that he became a target of the organization that way.

He claimed that he did not conduct any illegal activities and that he became a victim of terror. He regarded his detention as a huge injustice that built moral for the organization.

Altın stated that psychological pressure was applied to him and that he had been associated with bones found in the excavations and complained about the people who allegedly did this to him. He explained that the statement he gave under the name of "Ball-point Pen" was invalid and that he signed it without knowing the content.

Kamil Atağ: Mehmet Nuri Binzet is a liar

Defendant Kamil Atağ brought up for his defense that he has been a target of the PKK since 1985 and that he settled in the city of Cizre because of threats from the terror organization. He said that the charges of murder and membership of the organization made him upset.

"Defendant Mehmet Nuri Binzet is a liar and a monster. I trust the law. If the state has an open account with us, I will make it even. The accusations made us upset".

Demands of the lawyers

The defendant's lawyers claimed that the indictment mentions the murders of İhsan Arslan, Abdullah Özdemir and İzzet Padır, although those killings have not been recorded officially. For this reason they would have to coerce the defense of the charges. The lawyers demanded to amend the indictment accordingly.

The involved lawyers asked for the appointment of Kurdish interpreters to translate the defense to the families of the victims who do not know the Turkish language. They also asked for a bigger court room.

The court delegation decided to reject those claims. As far as the interpreters were concerned, the court president asked the lawyers to repeat their demand when the statements of the vicitims' families and friends will be taken.(EÖ/VK)