Haberal was arrested last year as part of an investigation into a clandestine terrorist group known as Ergenekon, which is charged with plotting to overthrow the government. Since his arrest he has not spent a single day in prison, arguing that his health precludes incarceration. The professor is currently hospitalized at the İstanbul University Cardiology Institute on complaints of chest pains.
In June Haberal’s lawyers filed several appeals with various high criminal courts to have their client’s “arrestee status” dropped due to his poor health; however, the appeals were rejected by the relevant courts. In response, the lawyers filed a criminal complaint against the judges with the 4th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals. The chamber decided to punish the judges, ruling that they each pay the former rector compensation for damages. Each of the nine judges was ordered to pay Haberal TL 1,500.
The judges appealed the ruling, but the Supreme Court of Appeals recently upheld the decision. The decision was found highly controversial by most jurists, who argued that judges could be pressured by this decision. The bill was presented to the Parliament’s Speaker’s Office on Monday. If approved, judges will not face any claims for compensation in ongoing trials, allowing them to be fully independent in their decisions. If a defendant or plaintiff believes that the judge involved in the trial is not fair, he will need to wait for the final ruling of the judge before filing a claim against the judge.
The bill is expected to be debated in Parliament this month. If approved, the law will apply retroactively to judges in the Haberal compensation case.
The compensation ruling against the judges in the Haberal case has prompted other defendants to file claims for compensation to apply pressure on judges. Retired Maj. Levent Bektaş, a suspect in the Poyrazköy trial, where the defendants are charged with having links to a cache of munitions found buried in Poyrazköy last year, recently filed a TL 50,000 compensation claim against the judges hearing his case for refusing to release him.
Other suspects who have petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeals are former 1st Army commander Gen. Çetin Doğan, who is under arrest on charges of having authored the Sledgehammer plot, which was devised to overthrow the government; Süha Tanyeri, a retired general who is also a defendant in the Sledgehammer case; and Dursun Çiçek, a colonel who is under arrest on charges of plotting a coup d’état.
