Prosecutors submit third indictment in Ergenekon trial

The new document is 1,454 pages long and indicts 52 people. A statement issued by the İstanbul Prosecutor's Office yesterday announced the submission of the new indictment. The statement recalled that two cases have been pressed so far as part of the investigation that was launched on June 12, 2007, after a house full of ammunitions and weapons was discovered in İstanbul's Ümraniye district.

The statement said the indictment was submitted to the İstanbul Higher Criminal Court, the court currently hearing the trial of Ergenekon suspects, on July 20, 2009.

The statement also included technical information on the indictment. “The indictment, which is composed of 1,454 pages, contains lawsuits against 52 suspects, 37 of whom are still under arrest. The suspects were arrested between Jan. 10, 2009 and April 17, 2009. Four of those arrested suspects were later released and 11 of the suspects were not arrested. The introduction section contains a summary of the first phase of the Ergenekon investigation and the first indictment, along with information on the activities planned and realized by the organization, including its assassination plans and seized ammunition,” read the statement.

According to the statement, the second section of the indictment provides information about the crimes the suspects are charged with and articles to be applied to the suspects. It will also include the evidence discovered during searches conducted in the houses or offices of each suspect, analyses of the evidence, the testimonies of witnesses and the interrogation of suspects in front of judges along with their testimony taken by police and prosecutors. “Each suspect is charged with one or some of the crimes mentioned below in the indictment and the relevant articles are asked to be applied to them. The crimes the suspects are charged with are: Setting up and leading a terror organization; attempting to destroy the government of the Republic of Turkey or blocking it from performing its duties; attempting to destroy the Turkish Parliament and blocking it from performing its duties; recording personal data; destroying, distorting, stealing and acquiring secret documents on national security; carrying explosives; firing weapons that pose a threat to people's lives; and disclosing footage and voice recordings belonging to private life,” read the statement.

The statement said new investigations have been launched in accordance with evidence linked to the Ergenekon armed terrorist organization. “Investigations are being carried out by public prosecutors under supervision of the deputy chief public prosecutor, who can directly participate in the investigations if necessary. The number of public prosecutors will be increased temporarily if needed. All the proceedings regarding the investigation are applied in accordance with court decisions,” read the statement.

It was also stressed in the statement that privacy rule on the indictment is to continue until the court accepts the third indictment and detailed information about the indictment cannot be provided until then. “According to relevant laws, the content of the investigation cannot be made public and published. Nobody can explicitly make an oral or written statement that would influence prosecutors, judges or court experts until the investigation is concluded. In order for the judicial bodies to perform their duties away from any kind of influence, all individuals, institutions and press organs should stay with in the legal framework,” read the statement.

Weapons and ammunitions that Ergenekon hoped would help sow chaos also went into the indictment. The full list of ammunitions belonging to the group discovered during  the investigation so far was included in the document. According to this, tens of light anti tank weapons, rocket launchers, mortar shells, anti-aircraft missiles, hand grenades, various types of bombs, dynamite, rifles, handguns and tens of thousands of bullets have been found during the investigation.