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Court Rules For Acquittal Of Balyoz Coup Plot Suspects

31.03.2015 19:41

After a prosecutor asked the Anatolian 4th High Penal Court to acquit the suspects in the infamous Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot case during their retrial on the grounds that the digital documents submitted in the case cannot be accepted as evidence, the court has ruled in line with the prosecutor's.

After a prosecutor asked the Anatolian 4th High Penal Court to acquit the suspects in the infamous Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot case during their retrial on the grounds that the digital documents submitted in the case cannot be accepted as evidence, the court has ruled in line with the prosecutor's request.

Thus all 236 suspects in the coup plot case were acquitted.

After the Constitutional Court ruled for retrial of the Sledgehammer suspects on the grounds that a lower court had violated the defense rights of all 236 suspects in June of 2014, the 4th High Penal Court started hearing the retrial of the coup plot case last year.

On Tuesday, Public Prosecutor Ramazan Öksüz summarized the expert reports in the case and said there is no link with voice recordings in evidence and the alleged coup plot. He also said digital data do not constitute evidence and underlined that there is not enough evidence to support the charges against the suspects.

Öksüz also said the voice recording of the seminar where the alleged plot was discussed on March 5-7, 2003 at the Selimiye barracks of the First Army Command also does not constitute evidence.

In his written defense, prosecutor Öksüz argued that despite the fact that some of suspects made speeches that went beyond their purview during the seminar, the whole seminar and the opinions expressed by those commanders who participated in the seminar should be considered as "the most dangerous scenario game, instead of being real threats."

The prosecutor also contended that the digital documents cannot be categorized as substantial evidence that will lead to the trial of the suspects on charges of plotting a coup, and he asked that all suspects be acquitted.

Despite the fact that several commanders in a voice recording from the seminar are heard saying, “They will loom over İstanbul like a nightmare [without] pity, only crushing,” the prosecutor asserted that these statements “do not aim to hurt the people.”

The 236 suspects include former 1st Army Commander Ret. Gen. Çetin Doğan; Ret. Gen. Engin Alan, who is now a deputy representing the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP); former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek; War Academies Commander Gen. Bilgin Balanlı and Ret. Col. Dursun Çiçek.

The suspects in the Balyoz case had been sentenced in 2012 to jail sentences of up to 20 years on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. According to the indictment, the military was trying to systematically foment chaos in society through violent acts, among which were planned bomb attacks on the Fatih and Beyazıt Mosques in İstanbul. The plot allegedly sought to undermine the government and lay the groundwork for a coup d'état.

The retrial of the Balyoz case began on Nov. 3, 2014, after the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled in June 2014 that the convicted suspects' rights were violated concerning “digital data and the defendants' testimonies.”

The suspects in the Balyoz case, including military top brass, had been convicted in 2012 and given long jail sentences of up to 20 years on charges of attempting to overthrow the government.

The Sledgehammer case targeted top military officers and was opened based on documents published in the Taraf daily on Jan. 20, 2010. Taraf journalist Mehmet Baransu gave a number of CDs purported to contain coup plans by military officials and their collaborators to a prosecutor in 2010. Baransu was recently arrested for having done this, in a development that has cast further doubt over the presence of freedom of expression in the country.

During the course of the trial, the Sledgehammer suspects -- including dozens of generals and other military officers -- claimed that the documents purportedly showing the existence of coup plans were fabricated.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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