Arrests, objections follow in Balyoz after court’s ruling
ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency
A total of twenty two soldiers, including Major General Atilla Özler, were arrested as part of the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) case, under which an arrest warrant for 69 suspects was issued on Feb. 21.Özler, along with colonels Cahit Serdar Gökgöz, Alpar Karaahmet, Cüneyt Sarıkaya and Yarbay Kürşat Güven Ertaş, was arrested yesterday after the group arrived in an Istanbul courthouse. Özler was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Sept. 21. Some 11 suspects were arrested over the weekend in the case.
Meanwhile, at least 12 of those convicted on Sept. 21 issued an objection letter to the local court yesterday, requesting a reversal of the decision. Murat Ergün, lawyer to the charged convicts Vice Admiral Abdullah Can Erenoğlu, retired Vice Admiral Kadir Sağdıç, retired Rear Admiral Fatih Ilgar, Staff Colonel Mehmet Koray Eryaşa, and retired Colonel Turgay Yamaç, filed an objection letter to the Istanbul 10th Court for Serious Crimes, which is to be sent to the Supreme Court of Appeals later. “We appeal the decision made by the local court. After the justified decision is made, we will present our justified appeal petition,” the letter read.
The letter proposed reversing the decision made in the case as they way the case was conducted went against legal methods. Abdullah Can Erenoğlu, Kadir Sağdıç and Fatih Ilgar were charged with 18 years in prison on Sept. 21 for their “incomplete attempt at staging a coup.”
A total of 331 of the 365 suspects were sentenced to prison terms in the case, while 34 suspects were acquitted.
MHP leader to visit Alan
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli will today visit Engin Alan, a retired general and a deputy from the party who was recently sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot case.
A delegation composed of MHP Executive Board members and deputies will join Bahçeli during his visit to Silivri prison. Alan, who was detained in February 2010 on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government by force” by drawing up coup plans after taking part in an army seminar in 2003, was elected as a MHP deputy from prison in the June 2011 elections.
