Ergenekon pressured judges and prosecutors, phone records reveal

Transcripts of phone conversations obtained during the investigation show that a female lawyer was apparently specially assigned to influence Köksal Şengün, the presiding judge in the Ergenekon trial, and persistently pressured the judge to pull out from the case using her relationship with him as well as intimidation, records of phone conversations legally monitored as part of the investigation have revealed.

There may be other judges who have been similarly pressured, according to Reşat Petek, a retired chief public prosecutor. Petek said the phone records indicate that there was a campaign to pressure the prosecutors and judges involved in the Ergenekon trial. This campaign, he said, was being waged either by individuals who support the organization or directly by its members. “This shows that an intense campaign to bring judges and prosecutors of the Ergenekon case under control is under way,” he said, recalling an earlier failed attempt by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) to dismiss the prosecutors investigating the trial and a successful attempt to withdraw prosecutors in Erzurum investigating an Ergenekon-related crime from the case.

“There is very serious evidence indicating a network of shady relations for influencing the judiciary. This should be further investigated.” Investigators have been monitoring the phone conversations of Seyfi Oktay, a former justice minister who has also been implicated in some Ergenekon activities, for months.

The phone conversations have exposed the group’s attempts to influence various proceedings in the judiciary, from the decision of the Constitutional Court on the government’s constitutional reform package to the Ergenekon trial itself.

The transcripts from the legal wiretapping, which have now been included in the indictment into the suspects, feature conversations between ex-minister Oktay, lawyer Tülay Bekar -- who is also a suspect in the case -- and Ergenekon trial Presiding Judge Köksal Şengün. In the phone conversations, Bekar repeatedly asks Şengün to withdraw from the case. In a separate conversation with Oktay, Bekar says: “We have him in our hands. He is not strong enough, though.” The conversations between Oktay and Bekar make it clear that Bekar was taking directives from Oktay. Bekar managed to bring Şengün under her control using intimidation tactics and blackmail. In a conversation from August 2009, Bekar openly tells Şengün: “Everybody has turned against you. Soon, you will be ashamed to pronounce your own name.” A predominant theme in the conversations is Bekar’s persistent demands for Şengün to withdraw from the case and possibly even retire.

Mustafa Şentop, a constitutional law expert, also agreed that Şengün’s involvement with an apparently Ergenekon-affiliated lawyer could be a stain on the trial. He said if Şengün refuses to recuse himself from the case, the prosecutors or the co-plaintiff lawyers can file a rejection-of-judge request. He said he had a positive view of Şengün at the start of the trial, noting that his impartiality seemed to become marred over time and saying that the recently exposed phone conversations explained why.

In one of the recorded conversations, Bekar promises Şengün that if he retires, he will be given his own office in İstanbul. She also threatens that she will not continue seeing him if he does not step down from the Ergenekon trial. In all these conversations, the judge repeatedly refuses to retire, and the other side brings up membership in the Supreme Court of Appeals as an alternative. It is understood from the records that Oktay himself stepped in after some point and arranged a meeting between Şengün and HSYK Deputy President Kadir Özbek about the Supreme Court of Appeals assignment. However, Şengün said it would be misunderstood if he was elected this way and changed his mind.

During this time, Oktay asked for some figures in the Ergenekon trial to be released, either using Bekar as an intermediary or by relaying his requests himself at dinner events he organized. In one particular conversation he had with Bekar, Oktay said, “He could at least release [Mehmet] Haberal.”

It is also apparent that Oktay and his con team of lawyers were uneasy about Şengün’s vote to accept the Ergenekon indictment. In a phone conversation, Bekar tells Şengün: “Someone has to fight against this. Why did you vote for the indictment?” Şengün says, “It is easy to talk,” in response.

In one of the conversations, Bekar, who was by then weary of the judge’s refusal to retire, asked Şengün to rule to merge the Ergenekon case with the Council of State shooting case going on in Ankara. Indeed, the two cases were later merged, although not in Ankara but in İstanbul at the court hearing the Ergenekon trial in the exact opposite manner of what Ergenekon members had wanted.

In one conversation, Bekar threatened Şengün to get him to withdraw from the case, saying that otherwise she would share his pictures at an iftar dinner at the İstanbul Police Department given for prosecutors and judges serving in İstanbul. Bekar said if he refused to resign, this picture would be published in the Hürriyet daily and added, “After that, the defendants will have no confidence in you.” In another conversation, Bekar asked Oktay about the photograph, to which Oktay replied that there was no need to release it. However, the picture was later published online by the odatv.com website.

We are working hard to get to him

Although much of the conversations indicate that Bekar was on a mission in starting and developing her relationship with the judge, a conversation between Oktay and lawyer Ali Hadi Emre further illustrates this. In the conversation, which took place on Sept. 3, 2009, Şengün told Emre, “We are having a difficult time getting this guy on our side.” He said they were making strenuous efforts to win Şengün over.

The transcripts of phone conversations between Şengün and lawyers who are suspects in the case have been sent to the Justice Ministry, investigators say. According to reports, Chief Prosecutor Zekeriya Öz had questioned the release of lawyers Mehmet Cengiz, Emre, Bekar and Kutbedtin Kaya -- who were all released on June 11 -- and the name of Judge Şengün was also mentioned in the probe file. The investigators say the decision of how to proceed with Şengün is up to the Justice Ministry. However, reports also noted that this was a routine practice and it did not mean that Prosecutor Öz had filed a complaint with the ministry against Şengün.