Ergenekon suspects reject prosecutor’s opinion

SİLİVRİ - Doğan News Agency

Lawyer Serkan Günel reads the common declaration in front of the Silivri Courthouse. AA photo.

Suspects in the Ergenekon case have issued a common declaration refusing to recognize the prosecutor’s opinion, which was submitted to the court today. 

“We do not recognize the prosecutor’s so-called opinion, we reject it,” stated the declaration, which was read out by lawyer Serkan Günel.

Prosecutors have demanded aggravated life imprisonment for a number of suspects including the former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, and Republican People’s Party lawmakers Mustafa Balbay, Mehmet Haberal and Sinan Aygün, as part of their final opinion in the alleged Ergenekon coup plot case.

“Today in Silivri, justice, laws and human rights was trampled on one more time. Prosecutors completely disregarded Parliament’s laws. All the basic principles of law have been trampled on. The prosecutor completely disregarded the suspects and their lawyers’ favorable evidence. The claims of so-called witnesses, as well as the questionable claims of secret witnesses, were taken as hard evidence,” the statement continued.

It also accused the court board of refusing to hear the suspects’ defense against “fabricated evidence.”
 
In the 2,271-page opinion, read in court by Prosecutor Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel, the prosecutors said there was enough evidence to prove the existence of the Ergenekon terrorist organization, and called on the court to punish the suspects accordingly. The prosecutors also asked for 7.5 to 15 years in prison for 96 of the suspects.