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Prosecutor demands ATK report on Ergenekon generals
The request came on Monday during the first hearing on the second indictment of the Ergenekon trial. Prosecutor Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel demanded that the report be prepared by the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) because many consider GATA compromised. Eruygur and Tolon were released from prison pending trial after being transferred to GATA, which issued health reports that enabled them to avoid trial. Their release drew the ire of many and raised suspicion among the public that retired generals appear to be using their connections in hospitals to avoid trial. Both are charged with being high-ranking officials in an armed terrorist organization.
Monday's hearing in the trial, which involves 56 suspects, took place at Silivri Prison. Eruygur, a former head of the Gendarmerie General Command, was released from custody by the İstanbul 9th High Criminal Court last September, two-and-a-half months after he was arrested. He had been hospitalized at GATA due to a cerebral hemorrhage.
The prosecutor also demanded the arrest of Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Chairman Sinan Aygün, who was detained in July 2008 on charges of connections with Ergenekon and released by the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court along with the former chairman of an ultranationalist youth club affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Levent Temiz, who had also been detained on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization. The prosecutor also stated that the first and second Ergenekon trials should be merged on the grounds that suspects of both trials are charged with the same crimes and acted together. The judges postponed the trial to Aug. 6 in order to have time to analyze the third Ergenekon indictment, submitted to the court by prosecutors on Monday.
Başkent University rector still hospitalized
Apart from Tolon and Eruygur, a number of leading Ergenekon suspects have been hospitalized for various medical problems and demanded their release from prison for health reasons.
Başkent University Rector Mehmet Haberal, for example, was arrested in April for involvement in Ergenekon and hospitalized the same day due to a heart condition. He remains hospitalized at İstanbul University's cardiology institute, despite the expiration of the eight weeks of bed rest prescribed in his medical report. While it has been 92 days since he was hospitalized, it has yet to be made clear when he will be released from the hospital. The director of İstanbul University's cardiology institute, Professor Erhan Kansız, said he had not been informed about Haberal's health condition because he was on vacation. Haberal underwent an angiogram at the institute in April, and the results were clear. Experts say a person suffering a similar disorder would recover within a week. The presiding judge of the Ergenekon trial also underwent an angiogram recently and returned to his post 10 days later. It is still unknown when the rector will be released.
Former İnönü University Rector Fatih Hilmioğlu was hospitalized on June 4 for facial palsy. Just as he was about to be released, his doctors said the former rector was also suffering from cirrhosis. Hilmioğlu has remained in the hospital for nearly 50 days.
Retired Gen. Levent Ersöz is also being treated at GATA. Developing a heart condition after he was arrested, Ersöz spent January and February at Koşuyolu Hospital. He became sick again when he was returned to Silivri Prison. Refusing to undergo treatment at Haseki Research and Teaching Hospital, he was hospitalized at GATA. He once claimed that he caught necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating disease, at the hospital.
Former Uludağ University Rector Mustafa Yurtkuran and Professor Erol Manisalı were also released from prison pending trial due to health reasons.
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