Major development in Orhun Haber investigation: 2 people arrested

Mert Kerim Ejder, Deputy Chairman of the Idealist Hearths (Ülkü Ocakları), and his brother Servet Ejder have been arrested on charges of managing the social media account Orhun Haber, which directly targeted and accused the prosecutor in the Sinan Ateş murder investigation and Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Ahmet Akça of being FETÖ members.

According to T24's report; it was determined that the website Orhun Haber was registered in the name of Servet Ejder, while the billing information was in the name of Mert Kerim Ejder. In the prosecutor's referral to the court, it was stated that “the crime may have been committed collectively and the number of suspects is high.” It was also noted that Mert Kerim Ejder, like lawyer Serdar Öktem who was arrested in the Sinan Ateş investigation, refused to provide the password for his mobile phone.

THEY HAD ACCUSED THE PROSECUTOR OF BEING A 'FETÖ MEMBER'

While significant developments are taking place in the investigation into the murder of former Idealist Hearths leader Sinan Ateş, a post made on November 19 from the account named Orhun Haber on the platform formerly known as Twitter directly targeted the prosecutor of the Ateş case, Ayhan Ay, and Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Ahmet Akça, accusing them of being FETÖ members.

The post claimed that “crypto FETÖ members had infiltrated the Hak-Yol community within the judiciary,” alleged that the prosecutor of the Sinan Ateş case, Ayhan Ay, was one of the individuals who had infiltrated the Hak-Yol community, and further claimed that Chief Prosecutor Akça was also a FETÖ member acting under organizational instructions.

Following the post, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation. As a result of the investigation, it was determined that the website mentioned by the account on X, orhunhaber.com, was registered to Servet Ejder, and the billing information was registered to his brother, Ülkü Ocakları Deputy Chairman Mert Kerim Ejder. Following this determination, the two brothers were detained. After the Ejder brothers were detained, Ankara Chief Prosecutor Akça was once again targeted and threatened from the same account.

REVEALED IN PHONE CORRESPONDENCE

The suspects, who were detained and taken to the police station, were brought to the courthouse today. The suspects were then referred to the court with a request for their arrest. In the prosecutor's referral for arrest, it was stated that the website in question belonged to the Ejder brothers, and that this was understood from the correspondence obtained from Servet Ejder's phone. The document stated, “based on the evidence obtained in the file, there is a strong suspicion of crime based on concrete evidence that the act may have been committed collectively; due to the nature, characteristics, connections, and the difficulty in investigating and identifying the perpetrators of the incident, the difficulty in collecting evidence, the high number of suspects, the time required to examine the seized digital materials, and the need to investigate the actions and connections of the suspects,” the arrest was requested.

“I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF ORHUN HABER”

Mert Kerim Ejder, Deputy Chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları, one of the suspects referred to the duty Magistrate Judge, claimed in his interrogation that the website could not be linked to the account on X and stated that the account in question did not belong to him. Claiming that this account could have been opened by anyone and that there was no determination regarding this in the file, Ejder said, “My social media account is under the name Orhunajans. What is shared on Twitter has nothing to do with my company. I learned about the account named Orhunhaber through this investigation. The conversations in the digital materials are for commercial purposes. The social media domain name and the orhunhaber domain name are different platforms. I have no knowledge of this account on Twitter.” Servet Ejder also denied the accusations.

Following their interrogations, the Ankara 10th Criminal Judgeship of Peace decided to arrest the suspects on charges of “slander” and “influencing the person performing judicial duty.”