‘Judges in recordings should withdraw from Cihaner case’

About two weeks ago, a voice recording ostensibly between two members of the Supreme Court of Appeals revealing plans to free Cihaner from prison was posted online.

The speakers in the voice recording are reportedly Supreme Court of Appeals judges Hamdi Yaver Aktan, Fatih Arkan, Ersan Ülker and Sedat Bakıcı.

Despite expectations that the Supreme Court of Appeals would start proceedings against the judges in the recordings, the high court instead filed a criminal complaint against media organs that published the voice recordings. Many jurists say the individuals implicated in the voice recording scandal should withdraw from the case for a fair trial. However, in the latest hearing on Friday, Supreme Court of Appeals 11th Chamber President Ülker and member Judge İdris Çobanoğlu -- who is also mentioned in the voice recording -- were on the panel of judges hearing the trial, indicating that they had ignored calls for them to withdraw from the trial.

Vahap Coşkun, an assistant professor of law, said: “The foremost duty of the Supreme Court of Appeals is to complete the investigation into the voice recordings and make a ruling about its own members. The Supreme Court of Appeals should not be hearing this case at all.” Meanwhile, in addition to calling for judges to withdraw from the case, many have argued that the press should be left alone Fatih University Law Faculty Dean Osman Kaşıkçı, retired public prosecutor Reşat Petek, former head of the Jurists’ Association Kamil Uğur Yaralı, Media Ethics Council President Halit Esendir, journalist Hasan Celal Güzel, head of the Modern Journalists’ Association Ahmet Abakay and Media Association head Salih Memecan have said the Supreme Court of Appeals’ criminal complaint is outrageous.

The fact that the 11th chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals filed a criminal complaint against press organs that covered the voice recording has been called an attempt to prevent freedom of press. The 11th chamber filed criminal complaints against five newspapers, including Today’s Zaman’s sister paper, the Zaman daily. These publications will now risk being sued for every news story they run about Cihaner. The high court is targeting the press that exposed plans to free a defendant, rather than targeting the judges trying to unjustly influence a case. This comes on top of previous concerns about the fairness of the trial in the case, including an incident where lawyer Turgut Kazan exposed the identity of one of the witnesses who testified in the case against Cihaner, but whose identity had been kept confidential for safety concerns.

To understand whether its the press or the Supreme Court of Appeals itself, one should look at the transliteration of the voice recording. In the recording, Aktan says that he told Supreme Court of Appeals judge Ülker that he would become the head of the Supreme Court of Appeals if he ensured that the two cases against Cihaner are merged and that he is freed from prison. Ülker is currently the head of the 11th chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court of Appeals early this month asked an Erzurum court to “quickly” send it all documents regarding a case it is hearing against Cihaner. The Supreme Court of Appeals was expected to rule to merge the two cases against Cihaner, who is facing charges of falsification of documents and membership in an armed terrorist organization in separate trials. No ruling has yet been made regarding a possible merger of the two cases. However, the chamber said it wanted to see the relevant documents from the Erzurum court before the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court makes an expected decision.

The decision concerns whether to merge Cihaner’s Erzurum court case with a case it is currently hearing, in which Col. Dursun Çiçek and several others are on trial for creating a plot to overthrow the government.

“I told Ülker that he will be the head of the Supreme Court of Appeals if he ensures this. I told him that there are three candidates for this position, Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya [chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals], [Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) Deputy Chairman] Kadir Özbek and himself. I told this to each of them. The one who achieves this will win,” Aktan says in the voice recording.

In the voice recording, Aktan also complains that some news reports that appeared in the media before Cihaner’s trial had frightened some judicial members, causing them to postpone his trial to May 14.

Aktan and Arkan are heard accusing some members of the Supreme Court of Appeals of being afraid to act to save Cihaner. According to them, Sedat Bakıcı, a member of the 11th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, is one of those “cowards.”