New Judge for Ergenekon Trial

The 188^th hearing of the First Ergenekon Trial was presided over by Judge Hasan Hüseyin Özese. Judge Köksal Şengün who chaired the Istanbul 13^th High Criminal Court since the first hearing was appointed to the Bolu Judgeship (north-western Anatolia) on 13 July. Özese used to preside over the court by proxy at times Şengün was excused.

"I know Alpaslan Arslan from the papers"

108 defendants, 27 of whom are detained, are being prosecuted in the scope of this trial. After a recess of 51 days, Leyla Ecin was heard as a witness on the State Council Attack at the hearing on Monday (25 July). Ecin is a partner of business man Koray Yılmaz who allegedly met defendant Alpaslan Arslan one day prior to the attack in Ankara.

Ecin said that she was working in international consulting and therefore frequently travelled abroad. She stated that she was in Dubai at the time of the State Council attack and learnt about it from the news.

She indicated that she was a business partner of Koray Yılmaz since 1997. "I was abroad at the time of the State Council attack. I do not know anything about a meeting of my business partner Koray Yılmaz with Alpaslan Arslan in a restaurant one day prior to the State Council attack. I cannot say that I know his private life. I know Alpaslan Arslan from the media", Ecin claimed.

"Are the conversations with my client being intercepted?"

The hearing was attended by 23 detained defendants, among them the Chairman of the Workers Party, Doğu Perinçek, Brigadier General Veli Küçük, ret. Captain Muzaffer Tekin, State Council attack suspect Alpaslan Arslan and Osman Yıldırım. Detained defendants Ergün Poyraz, İsmail Yıldız, Hayrettin Ertekin and Bora Ballı did not attend the hearing.

Zeynep Küçük, daughter and lawyer of Brigadier General Veli Küçük, referred to information they obtained in the course of the Sledgehammer trial, another major case related to the correspondent coup plan, via the media. She asked, "Are my conversations with my client being intercepted? Make a statement". Court President Özese replied that this application was done upon the request of the Istanbul 10^th High Criminal Court. "Sometimes there are provocations during our hearings, there is confusion and things said are not taken down in the minutes because they were not understood. We have not time to intercept your conversations with your client", Özeze responded.

Ergenekon Trial

On 20 October 2008, the Istanbul 13^th High Criminal Court started hearing the case of the clandestine ultra-national Ergenekon organisation, said to have planned to overthrow the government and to create chaos in the country with murders and attacks. Following the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals in 2009, the Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court decided to merge the case of the attacks on the State Council. Suspect Alparslan Arslan stands accused of shooting a judge and wounding others in the attack on 17 May 2007 (IC/VK)