Excuse letter from former judge defendant leaves court speechless

Only retired Vice Admiral Abdullah Can Erenoğlu, complainant retired Staff Colonel Ahmet Küçükşahin, and four lawyers—who were accepted as intervening parties—attended the 11th session of the trial, which opened in 2020 at the 9th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation acting as a court of first instance.

The defendants also presented their defenses via the SEGBİS video conferencing system.

FORMER PROSECUTOR: 'IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE ARE BEING TRIED'

The first to present a defense was Savaş Kırbaş, the prosecutor of the Balyoz conspiracy case. Stating that he is being tried for 'membership in an armed organization' at the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court and that the only evidence against him is his role as a prosecutor in the Balyoz case, Kırbaş argued that he is being tried in this case as well with the pre-assumption that he is a member of an organization, and that these two cases should be merged.

Describing the Balyoz process, Kırbaş argued that the Constitutional Court, which ruled for rights violations in two matters regarding the conviction decision, did not direct any accusations against the judges and prosecutors. Kırbaş recalled that an acquittal was initially granted in the Balyoz conspiracy case due to insufficient evidence, but upon the objection of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation overturned the acquittal for 7 defendants, and ultimately, the Anatolian 4th High Criminal Court convicted these defendants. He stated, 'As a Public Prosecutor, I gave my opinion and said, "The crime of attempted coup has been committed." The findings in the prosecutor's appeal and the court's final decision confirmed this. So, why are we being tried here? It is impossible to understand.'

Abdullah Öztürk, one of the defendants whose defense was taken regarding the charge of 'causing damage to the state' due to compensation lawsuits won by some officers who were victims of the conspiracy, emphasized that he was acquitted in the case opened for 'FETÖ membership' and claimed that this constitutes double jeopardy. Öztürk also noted that after the conviction of the 7 defendants whose acquittal was overturned, the trial against them had become moot.

Defendant Mustafa Başer also stated that this charge, which was added to the file upon the criminal complaint of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance due to compensation lawsuits, has reached the statute of limitations and that the court should rule for the dismissal of the case.

THE PRESIDING JUDGE IS ALSO A COMPLAINANT

As discussions arose during the hearing regarding compensation and the consolidation of other cases with this file, Maruf Alikanoğlu, President of the 9th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, commented, 'These should have been a single file, but because the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) opened separate cases for every complaint that came before it, this is how it turned out.'

Ömer Diken, who presided over the now-closed 10th High Criminal Court where the Balyoz conspiracy case was heard, stated that the charges of 'causing damage to the state and misconduct in office' had reached the statute of limitations, adding, 'We are being accused and tried based on assumptions. No matter what kind of defense we present, we cannot prove our innocence.'

After the defendants' statements, the Prosecutor, when asked for their opinion, requested the continuation of arrest warrants for the fugitive defendants and recommended that the request of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance to join the case be rejected, as it did not suffer direct harm from the crime.

THERE IS NO SUCH PETITION

Following the Prosecutor's opinion, the plaintiffs were given the floor. Retired Vice Admiral Abdullah Can Erenoğlu recalled that all the tip-off letters sent during the Balyoz conspiracy were anonymous and unsigned, yet they were processed at lightning speed, asking, 'On what basis did they process these tip-off letters? If this is not misconduct in office, what is?' He then posed the question to the court panel: 'If such tip-off letters came before you, would you take action?'

Erenoğlu also noted that Ömer Diken had even deprived them of their paternal rights and stolen the futures of hundreds of officers.

Complainant retired Staff Colonel Ahmet Küçükşahin stated that he had served 3 years and 4 months in prison, saying, 'Now, we had also complained about the issues that Ömer Diken is complaining about while we were being tried. They appear innocent, but that is not true. They are not innocent.'

News Source: 12punto