Presiding judge in Bora Kaplan case accused of having 'twisted relationship' with law enforcement: 'They could kill him with their spit'

Müyesser YILDIZ 12punto.com.tr

In the organized crime organization case involving Ayhan Bora Kaplan, the court has begun taking the defendants' defense statements against the prosecutor's final opinion.

The hearing, held by the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court at the Sincan Prison complex, began today once again with debates over the recusal of the judge.

Sidar Yurtçiçek, the lawyer for defendant Deniz Urcan, brought up the WhatsApp correspondence between the Presiding Judge and the former Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Bureau, Şevket Demircan, and directed the following accusations at the Judge:

“You are a member of the judiciary who has established an abnormal relationship with law enforcement that is not impartial. These correspondences show that you have established abnormal relationships. Contact with law enforcement should only be established through official correspondence. You cannot communicate via WhatsApp, which is owned by the USA. This is primarily contrary to the security system established by the Ministry of Justice via UYAP. You have gone outside legal procedures and caused a security vulnerability. Secondly, it is contrary to the principle of impartiality. Just as you cannot communicate with defense lawyers and defendants via WhatsApp, you cannot do so with law enforcement. How can you accept a car from the police? What kind of twisted relationship is this?”

Addressing the two female members of the panel, Attorney Yurtçiçek said, “Honorable Judges, I have explained these to you. Imagine that your children, your parents, are being judged by a presiding judge who is not fair,” and then requested that the panel withdraw from the case.

After Attorney Yurtçiçek, defendant Tansel Aktan, whose name was mentioned in the correspondence between the Presiding Judge and Şevket Demircan, spoke, saying, “It is understood that you will not make a fair and impartial decision about me. What is the reason for your hostility toward me?”

Tansel Aktan's lawyer, İbrahim Kama, also stated that the correspondence showed the Judge's zeal in gathering evidence against his client, which he claimed constituted a prejudgment of the case, and filed a motion for the judge's recusal.

THE JUDGE WAS AWARE THAT BORA KAPLAN WOULD ENTER A FAKE PASSWORD

Bora Kaplan also made a statement regarding the recusal request. Stating that he realized the Judge was taking sides after the first hearing, he addressed the female members, saying, “Please put your hand on your conscience. The lives of 60 people are being played with here,” and explained the following:

“I said I would give the password to my phone, but since it contained private information about my family, I was not going to give the correct one. Still, so it wouldn't look like I was deceiving the judge, I asked my lawyer to go to the Judge and tell him this situation. My lawyer went and told him. The Judge said, ‘Fine, let him enter a password.’ And when the phone was brought, I entered the wrong password.”

Bora Kaplan directed the following accusations at the Presiding Judge:

“You have taken the place of Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya; you are acting like a prosecutor, not a judge. You get angry; doing injustice must have become a habit for you. You have become the police chief, and Şevket Demircan has become your deputy. In the correspondence, you say, ‘May God protect them,’ referring to the police. May God protect them, and may He bring disaster upon us, is that it? You have locked arms with them and become friends. It is a pity for this justice system, a pity, a pity. Whatever decision you make, it is null and void in my eyes.”

Following these objections, the Prosecutor stated that it was normal for members of the judiciary to be in contact with law enforcement and for the police to allocate a vehicle to a protected member of the judiciary, and submitted an opinion for the rejection of the recusal requests on the grounds that they were intended to “prolong the trial.”

Meanwhile, when Attorney Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinan Kocağlu objected to the Prosecutor's opinion, saying, “A request for a car is made to the Prosecutor's Office. And they request it from the Ministry of Interior,” the Judge had Attorney Kocağlu removed from the courtroom by police on the grounds of “provocation.” As he was leaving, Attorney Kocağlu reacted by saying, “What provocation, for heaven's sake!”

Later, the Court unanimously decided that “there was no illegality in the actions taken and that they were a requirement of the ex officio investigation; and that the allocation of a vehicle to the Judge by the Police Chief was a requirement of the service,” and rejected the recusal requests. In the meantime, the Judge also clarified, “The Police Chief did not donate a vineyard and allocate a vehicle.”

After the lawyers' requests to expand the prosecution were also rejected and a short break was given in the hearing, the court moved on to taking defense statements against the final opinion.

The first to be given the floor was the lawyer for the complainant, Erkan Doğan. The lawyer requested that the defendants be sentenced in accordance with the final opinion.

Adnan Kaplan, one of the detained defendants, who made his defense, said he was accused of being an organization leader, but that he did not know 55 of the 61 defendants.

IF HE DID THIS, HE IS A SON OF A B....

Defendant Muhammet Kaplan also spoke about the complainant Erkan Doğan as follows:

“While Erkan Doğan was testifying here, he turned to the Judge next to you and the Prosecutor and said, ‘What is this guy saying?’ If even his own lawyer doesn't know he's lying, may God strike him down. Am I a man who pulls teeth? If Bora Kaplan pulled them too, he is a son of a b.... If Bora Kaplan’s, Barış Kurt’s, and even my own lawyers are defending us knowing that we pulled teeth, may God bring disaster upon them too. Am I that low? All the witnesses and statements are in my favor; but you want to use the 1% part. This falls under godlessness. I don't think you are bad, but I think the Prosecutor is. The darkness in his heart has reflected on his face.”

IS BORA KAPLAN THE MAHDI?

While criticizing the finding that he was expelled from the organization for using drugs with the words, “Of course, yeah, they lead prayers in a criminal organization. Is Bora Kaplan the Mahdi?”, he said the following regarding the Mahfuz Tatar murder accusation:

“A huge tribe, why didn't they come here? Were they afraid of that s.... Bora Kaplan? They could kill him with their spit.”

In the afternoon session of the hearing, the defendants who made their defense stated that they repeated their previous statements and requested their acquittal, while Tansel Aktan explained that he had no relationship with his former boss Bora Kaplan other than a boss-employee relationship, and that he would go to him and take photos and videos when he saw him, saying, “I stated that I took Bora Kaplan as a role model for myself. The accusations against me are a fabrication and a figment of the police's imagination.”

After the statements of some defendants and their lawyers were taken, and there being no other defendants or lawyers who wanted to make a defense today, the hearing was adjourned at 14:30 to continue tomorrow.

Müyesser YILDIZ

November 18, 2024