Trial of Grup Yorum: Prosecutor Admits Not Having Evidence Other Than Witness Statements

*İdil Cultural Center in Okmeydanı, İstanbul after a police raid.

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In the case of the Grup Yorum music band, there is no evidence other than statements by witnesses and anonymous witnesses, according to a letter sent by the prosecutor's office to an investigation office affiliated with the Ministry of Justice.

"The investigation is not directed at any action carried out by any suspect within the [terrorist] organization," says the letter sent to the Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau on January 30, 2018.

There are six defendants in the case, four of them being the members of the Grup Yorum. İbrahim Gökçek, the bass guitarist of the group, has been on a death fast for 245 days.

About Ümit İlter, another defendant in the case who was presumed to be abroad at the time, the letter says that there was no need for a red notice as the authorities will only take a statement from him.

Having been remanded in custody since March 1, 2019, İlter is charged with "Founding or managing an armed terrorist organization" as per Turkish Penal Code Article 314/1 and Anti-Terror Law Article 5. He is facing up to 23.5 years in prison.

The letter signed by Prosecutor Edip Şahiner further says that there was no evidence other than witness and anonymous witness statements about Ümit İlter.

'No information or documents'

The investigation aims to "uncover the structure of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) armed terrorist organization" and "not directed at any action carried out by any suspect within the organization," according to the letter.

The statements by witnesses and anonymous witnesses were about "the suspects' positions in the organization, their areas of responsibility, and which activities they lead," and within this context, there was "no information or documents about Ümit İlter other than statements by witnesses and anonymous witnesses," the letter says.

It says an arrest warrant was issued upon an order by İstanbul 7th Penal Court of Peace dated October 26, 2017.

The press had said 'the ringleader was caught'

Despite the prosecutor's letter, several media outlets mentioned İlter as a "ringleader" of the DHKP-C.

Daily Sözcü reported his detention, saying, "Ümit İlter, who was appointed as the ringleader of the organization after Dursun Karataş, the founder and the leader of the DHKP-C, died in 2008, has been detained during a raid in İdil Cultural Center in Okmeydanı on February 26."

Daily Milliyet mentioned him as "the so-called secretary-general of the DHKP-C" and the state-run Anadolu Agency said he was "appointed as the secretary-general of the organization." (AS/VK)