Prosecutor: Coup attempts are core of 2nd Ergenekon trial

There are two separate trials of Ergenekon suspects. Tuesday marked the 20th hearing in the trial based on the second and third indictments prepared in the case.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Pekgüzel told the presiding judge, Köksal Şengün, that the core of the trial is about three coup plans uncovered by the investigators called Moonlight, Sea Sparkle and Blond Girl. “We are trying coup attempts here. This is the core of the second trial. A military investigation is still underway in Ankara. The defendants here are here because of the allegations of attempt at a coup d’état.”

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court released five individuals standing trial as suspects in the investigation of Ergenekon in hearing.

The court ruled for the release of Lt. Onur Özdemir and gendarmerie noncommissioned officers İlhan Bulayır and Murat Eke as well as police officers Kemalettin Balcı and Bülent Güngördü. The panel of judges adjourned the trial until Dec. 14, 2009. The defendants who were released left the prison at around noon.

Şahin can survive prison

Meanwhile, the court also requested a health report from the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) on İbrahim Şahin, a former deputy police chief who is suffering from amnesia, to determine whether his condition played a role that might have affected his criminal accountability at the time of his involvement in the crimes he is charged with.

Also yesterday, another report on Şahin from the ATK -- based on various other reports issued on different dates -- reached the court. According to this report, remaining in prison with his condition does not constitute a health risk. However, the report said Şahin is still suffering from both short and long-term amnesia, adding that he needs to be monitored.

The report underlined that the patient’s orientation, general awareness of his surroundings and his sense of time were distorted; noting he was not aware of the season, the month or the date. It also stated that Şahin’s test scores measuring focusing one’s attention and sustaining attention and learning were very low; adding that he had trouble distinguishing individual’s faces.

The report also established that the patient’s visual memory tests showed similar results, hinting that Şahin’s perception, attention and recognition were greatly distorted. The report also stated that he appears to conform to the diagnosis for dementia, according tests that measure abstract thinking skills such as interpreting proverbs, drawing dual metaphors and drawing a clock. In the clock drawing test, Şahin placed the numbers with great hesitation and was only partially right. The report said the patient’s illness appeared to be chronic.

The report also said he suffered mild dysarthria, two-sided dissymmetry, poor concentration, cognitive defects and cerebellar syndrome.

More on Tuesday’s hearing

In Tuesday’s hearing, Cumhuriyet Ankara representative Mustafa Balbay’s cross examination by prosecutors continued. Balbay reiterated his earlier testimony, denying the charges against him in the indictment.

Also on Tuesday, Adil Serdar Saçan, a former police chief who is another defendant in the case, complained to the panel of judges, saying he was listed as the fifth person to present a defense statement, noting this would mean he would have to wait another month. He said he had defendant status in the trial over accusations of having used torture on Tuncay Güney -- a journalist rumored to be a double agent due to his links with both Ergenekon and state intelligence agencies -- eight years ago during Güney’s interrogation about Ergenekon, although the case was not named as such at the time. Saçan is also accused of having covered up that investigation.

In Tuesday’s trial he said: “Those with the ability to actually stage a coup are outside, the plumbers and realtors are inside. We have been jailed over allegations directed at us by prosecutors. You won’t let me go without hearing my defense. … There is no such law your honor. You are holding an uninterrupted trial here, but only two of the suspects have completed giving their defense statements.”

He claimed the trial’s judges would face similar problems in the future. “I have documents that prove that I am innocent. If the tide had turned and if the Fethullahçıs [derogatory term for supporters of the religious Fethullah Gülen movement] were locked up today, I would have gone to jail again. Because I got the allowance to start an investigation [at the time] and I was labeled as Fethullahçı. The prosecution closed the probe and then I became an Ergenekon supporter. The same thing will happen to you. You will pay for serving the state, I am living [proof of] this.”

He recalled that there were accusations that he closed a probe regarding Güney’s statements during the 2001 investigation. “What could I do? Should I have detained [then Chief of General Staff Gen.] Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu?”

He claimed that once some of the Ergenekon suspects were released, they would release tapes and video recordings of the judges in the trial, not unlike what is being done to the judge who released Col. Dursun Çiçek, who is also implicated in coup plans inside the military.

Other suspects who testified or spoke during Tuesday’s hearing included journalist Tuncay Özkan, Birol Başaran and Col. Mustafa Koç.