Expert report in Hablemitoğlu murder case: 'We watched the truth the state has hidden for 22 years'

The trial for the assassination of writer and academic Assoc. Prof. Necip Hablemitoğlu, which has been ongoing for approximately 1.5 years, continued. While the expert report regarding the HTS records of the defendants, including retired Colonel Levent Göktaş, reached the Court only this morning, Ersan Barkın, the lawyer for the Hablemitoğlu family, commented on the expert report concerning the suspects seen in the footage of the conference the late Hablemitoğlu attended in Eskişehir four days before his murder and at the Migros store where he shopped just before he was killed, saying, "We watched with astonishment the truth that the state has hidden for 22 years."

In today's session of the trial held at the Ankara 28th High Criminal Court, non-detained defendants Levent Göktaş, Tarkan Mumcuoğlu, Fikret Emek, Aydın Köstem, and Mehmet Narin were present in the courtroom, while the only detained defendant, Nuri Gökhan Bozkır, and Enver Altaylı, who is convicted in another case, connected via SEGBİS from Sincan Prison.

At the beginning of the hearing, which was also attended by the late Necip Hablemitoğlu's wife, Şengül Hablemitoğlu, and the parties' lawyers, the Presiding Judge stated that the expert report regarding the defendants' HTS records had arrived this morning, adding, "We have not had the opportunity to look at it either."

Subsequently, the testimony of retired non-commissioned officer Hacı Arabacı, one of the witnesses scheduled to be heard today, was taken. Arabacı denied the allegations that Nuri Gökhan Bozkır had given him an unused mobile phone and SIM card on the day of the assassination, stating, "I don't know why he is telling these things. He is there, you can ask him."

Defense lawyer Dilara Yılmaz reacted to the questioning of the witness regarding Nuri Gökhan Bozkır's statements, which he claimed were obtained under torture, and requested that this be put on the record, while Bozkır claimed, "I had recounted the fabrications dictated to me under torture."

It had been decided that three more witnesses, including journalist Ferhat Ünlü, would be heard today. However, the hearing was adjourned when it was observed that none of the three had arrived.

Meanwhile, the Presiding Judge asked the lawyers for the plaintiffs and the defendants whether they had received the report requested from the expert and submitted to the Court on July 8, regarding whether the three suspects thought to have been watching Hablemitoğlu while he was shopping at Migros just before the assassination were among those who attended the conference Hablemitoğlu gave in Eskişehir on December 14.

Ersan Barkın, the lawyer for the Hablemitoğlu family, replied, "We watched with astonishment the truth that the state has hidden for 22 years. On Thursday, we will explain the theory of the state and the state as a parent."

The trial will continue tomorrow.

Müyesser YILDIZ

July 16, 2024