Interim ruling announced in the February 28 case: 'Defendants to be exempted from attendance...'

The February 28 case, in which 16 defendants—including retired generals Orhan Yöney and Şükrü Sarıışık as well as the former Higher Education Council (YÖK) President Prof. Dr. Halil Kemal Gürüz—are being retried following the Court of Cassation's reversal decision, continued.

Some of the non-custodial defendants and their lawyers attended the hearing at the Ankara 5th High Criminal Court.

Presiding Judge Yaşar Sezikli announced that the expected report from the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) had been received.

HEARING ADJOURNED TO FEBRUARY 17

Taking the floor, the defense attorneys stated that they would submit their statements regarding the report to the court in writing. The lawyers requested that their clients, who have health issues, be exempted from attending the hearings.

The public prosecutor, when asked for his opinion, requested that the defendants' request to be excused from future sessions be granted in line with the lawyers' demand.

Following deliberations, the court announced its interim ruling, granting the non-custodial defendants' request to be exempted from attendance and adjourned the hearing to February 17, 2025.

COURT OF CASSATION HAD REVERSED THE VERDICT FOR 16 DEFENDANTS

The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation had upheld the life sentences given to former generals Çevik Bir, Çetin Doğan, Fevzi Türkeri, Ahmet Çörekçi, İlhan Kılıç, retired lieutenant generals Çetin Saner, Yıldırım Türker, Vural Avar and Hakkı Kılınç, retired vice admiral Aydan Erol, retired major generals Erol Özkasnak, Cevat Temel Özkaynak, Kenan Deniz, and retired brigadier general İdris Koralp for the crime of "preventing the government from performing its duties by force."

The Chamber reversed the conviction of defendants Halil Kemal Gürüz, Erdoğan Öznal, Hayri Bülent Alpkaya, and Muhittin Erdal Şenel, who were given the same sentence, on the grounds that they should have been punished as "aiders and abettors." The Chamber also requested the punishment of defendants Orhan Yöney, Şükrü Sarıışık, İzzettin İyigün, Kamuran Orhon, Köksal Karabay, Altaç Atılan, Ersin Yılmaz, Şevket Turan, Yücel Özsır, Metin Yaşar Yükselen, Refik Zeytinci, and İbrahim Selman Yazıcı—for whom a dismissal decision had been issued due to the "statute of limitations"—on the grounds that they had a "secret alliance" with the other defendants.

The retrial of the 16 defendants whose verdicts were reversed began at the Ankara 5th High Criminal Court.