Ergenekon defendants leave court

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Defendants in the Ergenekon case left the court after they were denied the opportunity to speak about the trial’s methods yesterday.

During the afternoon session of the ongoing Ergenekon trial, held in Istanbul’s 13th Court for Serious Crimes, arrested defendants asked for permission to speak about the conditions of the trial, the court’s attitude and methods used. Court Board Chief Hasan Hüseyin Özese denied them permission to speak and said the witnesses would be listened to during the trial.

Defendants, including Tuncay Özkan and the Republican People’s Party Izmir deputy and journalist Mustafa Balbay, insisted on speaking. Özese accused them of disrupting the order of the trial and said he would have to expel them from the courtroom if they did not sit down.

The defendants said the court had begun practicing a new implementation and they wished to talk about it. Özkan insisted on speaking and was expelled from the courtroom. Following Özkan’s expulsion from court, Özese said the defendants were forbidden to exchange words with outside people during the trial, the defendants then left the courtroom. “The lawlessness is on the rise for months. We cannot even speak anymore,” Balbay said in court.