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The 117th hearing of the lawsuit filed against public officials over the assassination of Agos Newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink was held at the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court today (January 6). The trial continued with the statements of defense as to the accusations.
At today's hearing, the then İstanbul Security Director Celalettin Cerrah, the then Trabzon Gendarmerie Regiment Commander Ali Öz and İstanbul Gendarmerie Intelligence officers Mustafa Küçük, Ali Barış Sevindik and Bekir Yokuş made their defense as to the prosecutor's opinion.
While İstanbul Gendarmerie Intelligence officer Önder Araz and Intelligence Department's C Branch Vice Chair Ali Poyraz were also expected to present their statements of defense before the court today, it was decided that they make their defense at a later date.
The court has ruled that Trabzon Gendarmerie Intelligence officers Veysal Şahin and Volkan Şahin shall be arrested.
Scheduled for 10 a.m., the hearing started at around 10.30 a.m. The prosecutor and a judge from the court board came to the hearing after Celalettin Cerrah, the first defendant to make defense, made his statement.
'Governor should have informed me'
In his defense at court, Cerrah said that there were some missing points in the defenses that he previously made. Cerrah said the following:
"I said before, 'If the F4 report [indicating that Dink would be "killed at all costs"] had come, the necessary would have been done.' The Trabzon Governor should have first informed the İstanbul Governor about this issue. And the İstanbul Governor should have called me.
"In such cases, it is also necessary to inform the Ministry of Interior. I should have known the issue so that I could do the necessary. There are no deficiencies in my duty. I served this state for 47 years. I did not have the slightest criminal record in these 47 years. I request my acquittal."
'Report hidden from my client on purpose'
His attorney Mehmet Köksal took the floor after defendant Celalettin Cerrah and said that "Cerrah had taken all measures, but he had not been given the necessary instructions and, therefore, the elements of the 'neglect of duty' crime were not constituted" on his part.
"He did not know about the action to be taken against Hrant Dink. It was not possible for him to give an instruction on his own," said the attorney.
Indicating that the F4 report was hidden from his client on purpose, attorney Köksal said, "There is no concrete evidence, the allegations are abstract. Provincial security directors cannot provide security on their own. But he ensured that all measures be taken in front of the Agos.
"The documents indicating that the measures were taken are in the file. He took all measures within his jurisdiction."
Declaring that they did not agree with the prosecutor's opinion as to the accusations, Cerrah's attorney requested his acquittal.
Küçük's defense
After Celalettin Cerrah, Mustafa Küçük made his defense as to the accusations. He invited his spouse Özden Küçük as a witness as the prosecutor's opinion referred to his being called from a payphone.
Özden Küçük said that after they were assigned to work in İstanbul, her husband bought them two telephone numbers; while the one that ends with 19 belonged to Mustafa Küçük, the one that ended with 20 belonged to herself. "We have been using these numbers for over 10 years. I am a teacher. You can ask the National Education. The related payphone call was made by the sister of my husband," said Özden Küçük.
As for Mustafa Küçük, he indicated that he had been making the same defense since the first day. "I started working as an element commander in 2004. I was appointed from active duty to passive duty in 2007," he said and added that "it was done by the people from the FETÖ", which is held responsible for the coup attempt in 2016.
"As we worked against the ones from the FETÖ, 26 personnel were investigated. Since they constantly wanted to draw me into a plot, I retired. The calls made from my wife's phone has nothing to do with the FETÖ/PDY. The numbers that I bought are used by my wife, my daughter and me. I request my acquittal," added Mustafa Küçük further.
Taking the floor after him, Küçük's attorney also rejected the allegations about the FETÖ/PDY and said, "It has turned out that the content of the talks was not related to the organization, but they were intrafamilial talks. It has not gone beyond being an abstract allegation. For all these reasons, we request acquittal of all offenses charged."
'I don't have an intention to flee abroad'
After Küçük, Ali Öz took the floor. Presiding Judge Akın Gürlek demanded that Ali Öz make a statement about an official letter that came from the Security Directorate, indicating that he had attempted to flee to Georgia.
Ali Öz dismissed the allegations about fleeing and said that he was in Konya with his parents at the related date, adding that he had never had any intention to flee. Saying that he did not meet anyone from abroad, either, Öz stated, "I did not pursue something like that."
Öz, then, moved to make his defense as to the accusations. He said, "All through my time in office, I acted in line with the laws and regulations. After Hrant Dink was killed in 2007, the inspectors did an inspection. I was put on trial for neglect of duty. But I had no relation with Hrant Dink. I don't know where he lives, what he does. After the incident happened and I learned that the perpetrator lived in Trabzon, I came to know the issue." Öz also added that the intelligence branch director had not informed him.
'My sister gave it to me'
As for Ali Barış Sevindik, he said that his phone number was closed when he was in prison and after he was released, he started using that of his sister. He said that he was not guilty of the payphone call.
"After I left prison, all my phone lines (~numbers, SIM cards) were closed. When I was home, everyone was calling me through my sister's. Then, my sister gave the line to me. I used it after 2017. When the payphone calls in 2015 are examined, you can see that they have nothing to do with me. There are two calls, after all. They are neither consecutive, nor periodical."
Arrest warrants against two gendarmerie
Pronouncing its interim judgement after the defenses, the court has ruled that defendants Ecevit Emir and Ali Öz shall be released from house arrest as they came in person to court to follow the hearings.
The court has also ruled that Veysal Şahin and Volkan Şahin shall be arrested considering that there is evidence suggesting that they knew about the murder beforehand. An arrest warrant has been issued against the two.
The trial will continue on January 8, 11, 15, 20 and 22.
Who is who in the Hrant Dink murder case?Ankara
İstanbul
Trabzon
Samsun
Civilians
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Hrant Dink murder caseIn the lawsuit filed into the killing of Hrant Dink, the specially authorized 14th Heavy Penal Court handed down its ruling on 19 defendants on January 17, 2012. Arrested defendant Yasin Hayal was sentenced to aggravated life sentence on charge of "incitement to premeditated murder", 3 months in prison for threatining writer Orhan Pamuk and 1 year in prison for "possession of unregistered arm." He was acquitted of "leading an armed terrorist organization." While the court ruled that Erhan Tuncel, one of the arrested defendants, should be sentenced to 10 years, 6 months in prison and ruled for his release, it sentenced Ersin Yolcu to 12 years, 6 months, Ahmet İskender to 13 years, 4 months and Salih Hacısalihoğlu to 2 months, 15 days in prison. All defendants were acquitted of "membership in an armed terrorist organization." The 9th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation reversed the verdict of the local court on "organization" charges and ruled that the defendants should be retried for being the members of "an organization established to commit crimes", not being the members of "an armed terrorist organization." Upholding the conviction of Yasin Hayal on charges of "incitement to deliberate murder" and "threatening Orhan Pamuk", the Court of Cassation reversed the acquittal of Yasin Hayal on charges of "establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization", concluding that he should be convicted of "establishing and leading a criminal organization." While the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of Erhan Tuncel on charge of "producing explosive substance", it reversed his acquittal of "incitement to willful murder" on the grounds that he should be convicted for having aided the Hrant Dink murder. Case file at the 14th Heavy Penal Court, again Following the Court of Cassation verdict, the retrial began at the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court. After six hearings were held at this court, the file was sent to the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court as the heavy penal courts specially authorized as per the Article 10 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) were abolished. Accepting the indictment against public officials, the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court sent the case file to the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court so that it would be merged with the main trial of eight defendants, including Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, the verdicts of whom had been reversed. The board of the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court returned the case file to the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court on the grounds that "consent was not requested in the ruling for merging the case files, the court was not authorized to hear terror crimes, the trial was at a further stage in the main case and there was no common defendant between the ones put on trial in this case and the public officials to be put on trial in the new case." The 5th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, who examined the files to resolve the dispute between the courts, merged the two files and ruled that the cases should be heard by the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court. The İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court ruled that the new trial of 50 defendants including gendarmerie officials should be merged with the main trial of 35 defendants including Ogün Samast, Erhan Tuncel and former security directors Ramazan Akyürek, Ali Fuat Yılmazer and Coşgun Çakır. New indictment While the trial was ongoing, the prosecutor conducting the investigation lodged a new indictment and demanded aggravated life sentence on charge of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" for 51 defendants including Fetullah Gülen, former prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, Editor-in-Chief of the closed Zaman newspaper Ekrem Dumanlu, journalists Adem Yavuz Arslan, Ercan Gün and dismissed Brigadier General Hamza Celepoğlu, the then Trabzon Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Ali Öz, Trabzon Gendarmerie Intelligence Branch Director Metin Yıldız and İstanbul Gendarmerie Intelligence Officer Lieutenant Muharrem Demirkale. The indictment also demanded that 40 defendants including Öz and gendarmerie officers be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on charge of "participating in the murder." Prison sentence for defendants in the main trial At the hearing on June 13, 2019, the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court ruled that the case files of nine main defendants including Ogün Samast and Yasin Hayal should be separated from the others. Handing down its judgement on July 17, 2019, the court ruled that Erhan Tuncel should be sentenced to 99 years, 6 months in total on charges of "attempted murder with premeditation and by using a bomb, damage to property, being a member of a criminal organization and aiding a wilful murder", Yasin Hayal to 7 years, 6 months in prison for "establishing and leadign an armed criminal organization" and Ogün Samast to 2 years, 6 months in prison on charge of "being a member of an armed criminal organization." The court also sentenced Zeynel Abidin Yavuz to 14 years, 22 days, Tuncay Uzundal to 16 years, 10 months, 15 days and Ahmet İskender and Ersin Yolcu to 1 year, 10 months, 15 days in prison each on similar charges. Defendants Salih Hacısalihoğlu and Osman Hayal were acquitted by the court. |
(HA/SD)
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