Former special operatives, including Şahin released

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

İbrahim Şahin, who was arrested in October allegedly presided over a police team in a number of extrajudicial killings. AA Photo

An Ankara court yesterday ordered the release of seven former special operatives who had been on trial in connection a number of unsolved murders.

Released by the court upon their lawyers’ objection to their continued state of arrest, the seven suspects included İbrahim Şahin, who is also a suspect in the Ergenekon case. The court released the suspects on the grounds that the accusations against them consisted merely of abstract claims lacking any solid evidence to keep them imprisoned, the NTVMSNBC website reported.

In addition to İbrahim Şahin, Enver Ulu, Ayhan Akça, Ayhan Özkan, Seyfettin Lap, Uğur Şahin and Ahmet Demirel were also released.

Requests for the release of suspects Ayhan Çarkın and Ercan Ersoy, however, were denied.

İbrahim Şahin presided over a police team whose members were apprehended following the confessions of special police operative Çarkın regarding a number of extrajudicial killings committed during the 1990s.
Ergenekon is an alleged ultranationalist, shadowy gang accused of planning to topple the government by staging a coup initially by spreading chaos and mayhem. It is also thought to be an extension of or a different name for the “deep state,” which is an alleged unofficial organization of the bureaucracy and military operating behind the scenes of the official state structure.