Ergenekon convict’s objection to arrest not processed for seven months

Toygun Atilla ISTANBUL / Hürriyet

Tuncer Kılınç is serving a 12-year prison sentence in connection with the Ergenekon coup plot case. Hürriyet Photo

The lawyer of retired Gen. Tuncer Kılınç, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence in connection with the Ergenekon coup plot case, has filed a complaint against the judges for not putting his objection to the arrest into the operation for seven months.

Kılınç, former secretary-general of the National Security Council, surrendered at an Istanbul courthouse to serve his sentence from the Ergenekon case. Kılınç’s lawyer, Hasan Gürbüz, filed a complaint against Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court judges Hasan Hüseyin Özese, Hüseyin Çalmuk and Sedat Sami Haşıloğlu, to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) for not sending his objection to his client’s arrest to a higher court for seven months.

Kılınç, who was not arrested during the trial, surrendered to serve his sentence of 13 years, 2 months and 10 days as an Istanbul court announced the verdicts for the landmark coup plot case Aug. 5, 2013. His lawyer applied to the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court and demanded the release of his client.

Seven months passed, but the lawyer could not reach, nor obtain a response from the court. He later learned the court had never put his objection into process. Gürbüz complained about the judges to the HSYK.

“The judges of the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court, who tried my client Tuncer Kılınç, committed a crime by not putting our objection petition into process,” said Gürbüz in his petition to the HSYK.

The Ergenekon case, which focused on an alleged coup plot, is one of Turkey’s most significant legal battles and has been ongoing for the last five years. Some 275 suspects were put on trial, and the verdict handed down Aug. 5 ultimately acknowledged the Ergenekon network as a terrorist organization that attempted to overthrow the government. The case resulted in hundreds of years of imprisonment in total and several aggravated life sentences for a series of the country’s high-ranking army members, journalists and academics.