The indictment against Tekol -- who testified as an expert witness in the trial over the torture and murder of Engin Çeber while in state custody -- was prepared by İstanbul Public Prosecutor İsmail Onaran. The criminal complaint, submitted by the Bakırköy 14th High Criminal Court to the Bakırköy Public Prosecutor’s Office, notes that Tekol was chosen to serve as an expert lip reader in the Çeber case, in which Fuat Karaosmanoğlu and 59 others were tried for torture, dereliction of duty and other crimes, and alleges that the report Tekol prepared was published a day before being presented to the case judges and that on the evening that the report was submitted to them, Tekol answered questions about the report on a program broadcast on a private television channel.
The indictment notes that ahead of the expert report being read in hearings held June 4-5, 2009, the evidence was debated in public and requests that legal action be taken against those responsible for this, on charges attempting to influence the judicial process.
The indictment includes a statement from Selma Yıldız, the ATV television manager responsible for news, who says that she does not accept the charges, maintaining that during the program, the lip reader only answered questions and did not make any independent comments or evaluation. As for Tekol, he says that he did not discuss the court file during the program, only explained the scientific situation and the techniques employed.
The indictment nevertheless maintains that the fact that the file from the controversial and highly publicized case was discussed and debated in several public forums before the case judges were even able to discuss the content, when viewed as a whole, could only be evaluated as an attempt to influence the judicial proceedings.
The indictment demands prison sentences of nine months to four-and-a-half years for Tekol and Yıldız. The trial is expected to begin soon at the İstanbul 12th Criminal Court of First Instance.
