The second hearing of the Ergenekon trial was today.

The court approved the motion by daily Cumhuriyet and Şebnem Korur Fincancı to join the trial, but rejected a similar motion by the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

In the Ergenekon case, 86 people, 46 of them arrested, are accused of organizing an uprising to overthrow the government.

Representative of Istanbul’s Chief Prosecutor Turan Çolakkadı said that they solved the space problems regarding the hall where the hearings are held.

The capacity of the hall is increased to 243 people. The court decided to allow a suspect to have at most three lawyers. Only 46 suspects faced the court today. If there was any room left, the court was planning to allow for spectators.

Only reporters from six news agencies were allowed into the courtroom today. There were no clerks in the hearing, but visual and audible recordings were taken.

The first hearing

Because of the lack of space in the courtroom, the court had decided to try the arrested and non-arrested suspects separately.

The first hearing had consisted of the motions to join the case and the recusation demands.

The court refused the recusation demand yesterday.

The demands by the institutions such as the Rights Defenders, the Contemporary Jurists Association (ÇHD) to join the case were to be decided today. A similar demand by the Democratic Society Party (DTP) to join the case on the side of the Kurds whose relatives were killed in the 1990s were also to be decided today (October 23).

Leader of the Worker Party Doğu Perinçek’s claim that “since this is a party closure case, the trial should be moved to the Constitutional Court” were to be replied today, too. (EÜ/TB)