Second and Third Ergenekon Cases Merged

On Thursday, 6 August, the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court decided to merge the cases of the second and third Ergenekon indictments.

The third indictment had only been accepted very recently, while the second indictment had been accepted on 20 July.

108 defendants in new merged case

The case is now to continue on 7 September. There will be a total of 108 defendants.

Under head judge Köksal Şengün, the court decided to reject two demands of prosecutor Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel made on 20 July.

For one,  the prosecutor had asked for reports from the Forensic Medical Institute on retired generals Şener Eruygur and Hurşit Tolon, who were both released on the basis of health problems.

He had also demanded the arrest of Sinan Aygün, president of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce and lawyer Levent Temiz.

The decision to merge the two cases was based on the demand by the prosecution, the content of the two indictments, as well as economy of procedure.

Yesterday's hearing

According to the Ntvmsnbc.com news website, 16 detained and 21 undetained defendants attended the hearing at the Silivri prison site outside of Istanbul.

Journalist Mustafa Balbay from the Cumhuriyet newspaper, a detained defendant, criticised prison conditions, saying that there had been continuous electricity cuts since 28 July.

He condemned the merging of the two cases, saying there would be "pollution of information".

The court decided to release Prof. Dr. Ferit Bernay, former rector of the 19 May University, and Muhterem Bağcı. (EÖ/AG)