The trial is based on the first indictment into the Ergenekon investigation. The Saraylıoğlu murder case was merged with the trial after prosecutors proved the existence of links between the DHKP/C and Ergenekon. Serhan Bolluk stands accused of being involved in the alleged execution of Saraylıoğlu by the group.
In his defense testimony yesterday, Bolluk denied playing any role in Saraylıoğlu's murder. He said it was impossible for him to participate in the organization's interrogation of Saraylıoğlu as averred by the indictment. He said, “I don't have any links to the DHKP/C organization, nor do I have links with any member of the organization.” He said he has been a member of the Workers' Party (İP), whose leader Doğu Perinçek is also in jail as a prime Ergenekon suspect, for 30 years and maintained that the İP has no connection to the DHKP/C.
In response to a question from Prosecutor Nihat Taşkın during the cross-examination following his defense testimony, Bolluk said some senior Aydınlık journalists have been threatened by the DHKP/C for a long time.
İP leader Perinçek and the party's secretary-general, Nusret Senem, also under arrest as an Ergenekon suspect, also confirmed that Aydınlık was threatened by the DHKP/C many times, mainly due to stories the journal printed on the organization's involvement in drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, an İzmir court yesterday sentenced Erdinç Utaş, the prime suspect in the murder of a man named İbrahim Çirtçi, to life yesterday. This murder appears to be linked to the Ergenekon gang.
In October 2006 a hand grenade was thrown at a cafe belonging to İbrahim Çiftçi in İzmir. Çiftçi -- who was a suspect in the murder of secular academic Necip Hablemitoğlu and who was also suspected of having links to Ergenekon according to the prosecutor -- died because of the attack. The hand grenade that killed Çiftçi had a serial number matching four others found in a house belonging to an Ergenekon suspect in 2007, a discovery that started the entire investigation into the group. Also, one of the two hand grenades found in December 1998 in Manisa province buried in the yard of a house had the same serial number as others in the Ümraniye house.
