The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court decided on Saturday to release academics Ümit Sayın and Emin Gürses and retired Sgt. Muhammet Yüce. The three are accused of membership in Ergenekon, a criminal organization believed to be working to foment chaos in society for a military takeover.The three were taken by private vehicles from the Silivri Prison complex. Yüce told reporters that justice had been done. Sayın, however, declined to speak to the press. “I will not say anything. I am depressed. I was put behind bars for no reason,” he noted.
Dozens of suspected Ergenekon members are currently in prison on charges of becoming member of an illegal terrorist organization. Among the suspects are members of the military, academics, businessmen and journalists.
Eskişehir gendarmerie commander released pending trial
Eskişehir Gendarmerie Brigade Commander Col. Recep Gençoğlu was also released on Saturday pending trial after an interrogation by Erzurum Public Prosecutor Osman Şanal on his suspected links to a conspiracy in Erzincan.
The colonel was detained last week as part of the Ergenekon probe. He is believed to be linked to a plot set up jointly by the gendarmerie and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) to create false evidence implicating some religious communities in crimes by using phony witnesses. According to the plan, ammunition and bombs would be planted in the houses where followers of some religious communities lived, and these weapons would later be found during police searches. Thus, these religious communities would be categorized as “armed terrorist organizations.”
