Suspect offers ‘100 kilos of gold’

ISTANBUL

Doğu Perinçek, Workers’ Party (İP) leader is in Istanbul Silivri prison.

The 208th hearing of the Ergenekon case, because of which 29 suspects remain imprisoned, was held in Silivri, Istanbul. During Friday’s hearing, one suspect requested his release, offering “100 kilograms of gold” to the judges in return.

Addressing the court, Hayrettin Ertekin, known as the “jeweller of celebrities,” said he would give “100 kilograms of gold, as many land titles and cash as requested” to the state. Imprisoned suspect Doğu Perinçek, who leads the Workers’ Party (İP), said in his defense that it was his party which brought to the agenda unsolved murders and the Susurluk scandal 15 years ago. “I’m the first person that Parliament’s Susurluk Commission asked for information,” Perinçek said. “İP has been the party that brought the subject of Gladio to Turkey’s agenda,” he said, referring to an alleged shadowy organization within the state. 

Perinçek repeated the accusation that the case “does not try Gladio, but those who oppose [Prime Minister] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.” 

In another development, an Ankara prosecutor on Thursday objected to the release of seven suspects who had been on trial in connection with unsolved murders. 

They include former police chief İbrahim Şahin, who also stands trial in the Ergenekon probe. The court had released the suspects Dec. 13 due to lack of evidence. 

Specially authorized Chief Prosecutor Hakan Yüksel, however, countered the court’s reasoning daily Radikal reported.