Suspect Cries 'Parallel' When He Hears Life Sentence

Galip Özdemir (47), convicted of killing his girlfriend, Esma Ekinci (37), and placing her body in a suitcase, accused the court of being a part of the so-called “parallel structure” after a judge handed down a life sentence.

Antalya's 1st High Criminal Court ruled for a life sentence for Özdemir, a married bus driver with three children who killed his mistress in a hotel room in Antalya, a coastal Mediterranean province, in December 2013.

When Özdemir heard the ruling, he turned to presiding judge Nihat Altus and the rest of the panel and shouted: “I knew such a verdict would come down. The judiciary protects the deceitful, not the honest. This ruling was made because of the ‘parallel structure'.” Altuğ had these statements recorded and decided to file a criminal complaint against Özdemir on the grounds that he insulted the panel of judges.

The terms “parallel structure” and “parallel state” have been used by government officials and bureaucrats since a corruption investigation went public in December 2013. The prove involved the arrests of several sons of ministers and businessmen close to then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The government responded to the corruption probe by reassigning thousands of police and hundreds members of the judiciary in moves viewed as targeting the “parallel structure.”

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)