Court holds second hearing in Malatya murder case

The suspects who were standing trial while in custody -- Emre Günaydın (19), A.Y. (19), H.Ç. (19), S.G. (20) and C.Ö. -- were brought to the Malatya courthouse from the Malatya prison by special security units yesterday morning, where security remained tight. Two more suspects, Kürşat Kocadağ (18) and M.G. (19), were also being tried but are not in custody.

The five suspects currently under arrest are being charged with "setting up an armed terrorist organization, more than one homicide as part of the activities of the terrorist organization, trespassing and aiding and abetting an armed terrorist organization." Günaydın is additionally being charged with having masterminded the murders. The prosecutor is seeking three life sentences for each of the five suspects. The other two are facing charges of aiding and abetting an armed terrorist organization.

Kocadağ was the first defendant to testify during yesterday's hearing. In his testimony, Kocadağ said that Günaydın was not someone who was very religious. He said Günaydın had started speaking about the Christian missionaries a few months prior to the murders and stated that Günaydın was making plans to gather intelligence about them and asked Kocadağ to join him, which he said he refused.

Some of the suspects testified in court for the first time since the trial started. In his testimony, the suspect identified as H.Ç. said he had been too scared of Günaydın to tell anyone about his plan to raid the victims' office. He also stated that Günaydın habitually referred to Christian missionaries as "public enemies and enemies of the state" and accused them of dragging Turkish women into prostitution. He said suspect C.Ö. tied the hands of Tilman Geske and Necati Aydın and Günaydın tied the hands of Uğur Yüksel. He also claimed that he did not know there was a plan to murder the three men. He said he thought they were going to get some documents, but at the same time he testified that they brought along five knives, five pairs of gloves and five protective prayer inscriptions, known as Jawshan. H.Ç. also testified that suspect S.G. tried to strangle Necati Aydın with a rope but that he gave up, complaining that he "couldn't," which was when Günaydın slit Aydın's throat. He said German citizen Geske was also killed by Günaydın. H.Ç. said he did not see who killed Uğur Yüksel. Suspect M.G. denied all accusations against him, saying he had nothing to do with the incident. He said Günaydın was a customer of his who once rented a video from him. He said he did not talk about Günaydın's plans to anyone, because he did not take him seriously.

Meanwhile, lawyers representing the victims' families demanded voice recordings be made of the trial. They also stipulated that 16 case files out of the total 31 police files on "missionary activity in Turkey" submitted in the case be removed from evidence. In addition, they wanted the murders to be classified as "genocide" and a "crime against humanity," saying it was obviously a hate crime. However, the judge rejected all of the lawyers' demands.

Families, human rights officials present

Head of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee Zafer Üskül was also in Malatya yesterday to attend the hearing at the Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court.

Malatya victim Tilman Ekkehart Geske's wife, Suzanne Geske, and Necati Aydın's wife, Şeme Aydın, as well as relatives of the defendants also attended the hearing. The head pastor of the Diyarbakır churches, Ahmet Güvener, was also present.

Three of the suspects were captured by the police at the crime scene shortly after the murder. The fourth suspect, Günaydın, had badly hurt himself after jumping from a window as he tried to flee the scene and was then taken to the Turgut Özal Medical Center for treatment, where he spent a month. He was arrested by the court after his release from the hospital.

The hearing in November of last year was adjourned when defendants asked for additional time to review documents in the case. In the first hearing, the suspects had not testified.

Zafer Üskül, head of Parliament's Human Rights Committee, talked to the journalists about the trial yesterday. "Murders occurred in Malatya and a fundamental human right was violated. As the head of the Human Rights Committee I need to be informed about this case. One of the essential necessities of state secularism is to guarantee the freedom of religion. The state has to have an equal distance from all belief systems. However, these people were killed because of their beliefs. This is unacceptable," he said. Üskül also stated that Turkish society needed to be more tolerant about religious differences.

The murders

On April 18, 2006 Christians Necati Aydın (35), Uğur Yüksel and German national Geske (46) were tied to their chairs, stabbed and tortured at the Zirve Publishing House in the eastern Anatolian city of Malatya before their throats were slit. The publishing house they worked for printed Bibles and Christian literature. Other suspects, S.G., C.Ö., H.T. and A.Y., whose full names can not be given because of their age, were caught at the crime scene and immediately taken into custody. Günaydın jumped from a third storey window while attempting to escape the police and was taken into custody following a hospital stay.