"Killer of 3 Protestants Tied With The Police"

In the second hearing of the trial for the killings of three members of the Malatya Protestant community, suspects charged Emre Günaydın, their leader with having ties with the local police chiefs. 

Third in a chain of attempts at the lives of Turkey's Christian minority in a year, German citizen Tilman Ekkehart Geske, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yüksel were killed at their Zirve Publishing House in the eastern province of Malatya, in April 2007. The local publishing house functioning also as a bookstore, was mainly focusing on Christian teachings.

Close relation with police chief  

At the 10-hour hearing, suspects Kürsat Kocadag, Hamit Ceker, and Mehmet Gökce, who are tried without arrest, were questioned. The questioning of the main suspect, Emre Günaydin, who is under arrest, is postponed for the next hearing.   

Ceker claimed that Günaydin had contact with the police chief, he had not informed the police of Gunaydin's plans because he was scared. He said that they had gone to the publishing house to grab documents, but then Günaydin had killed three people. He also alleged that a few months before the murders Günaydin had stabbed someone at a dormitory and been kicked out from the dormitory, but the incident had been covered up by the local authorities and there had been no prosecution.

Prepared to become a "martyr"

Kocadag said in his statement that at the time when they were preparing for the national university exam, Günaydin was being taught at “Nur houses”, of the Nurcu Muslim sect. “Günaydin had an aggressive attitude. Sometimes he became very aggressive, and sometimes very emotional. A long time before the event, he told me that there were 49 church houses in Malatya, and that we needed to do something about this; he also said that finally we could end up with martyrdom. I refused the offer and we fell out,” he told the judges.

When asked by defense lawyers if his and Günaydin’s religious beliefs were very strong and whether they prayed five times a day, Kocadag replied: “I perform the Friday prayer, but generally I am not consistent in my prayers. Emre Günaydin was also not very attached to his beliefs.”

Gökce stated that he worked in a computer equipment store and knew Günaydin as a customer. He said that he saw Günaydin a day before the murders.

The Malatya court has refused the demands of the joint plaintiffs andthe defense lawyers for certain CDs, documents and autopsyphotographs.  It also refused permission for lawyers to record thehearings.

The court also refused to accept the video recordings of Emre Günaydin’s hospital stay presented by the Malatya Police Department in 42 cassettes as evidence, for they were submitted to the court  after the legal limit of 24 hours had passed. 

International press and human rights observers

The court hearing was attended by Ranier Dost from the German Embassy in Ankara, by Prof. Dr. Zafer Üskül, MP and head of the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission, Feray Salman, the general coordinator of the Human Rights Joint Platform, Hüseyin Öntas from the Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism Initiative, Zekai Tanyar, the spokesperson of the Protestant Church, and many foreign members of the press.(NZ/AG)