Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Oda TV trial continues

The 9th hearing of the Oda TV trial was held before the Istanbul 16th High Criminal Court on Monday (23 January). Journalists Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener are among the defendants of this case.
Prosecutor Mehmet Berk substituted for the prosecutor who is usually handling the case because he was absent due to health reasons. The session was attended by 13 defendants, two of whom are not detained.
It was announced that plaintiff Nazlı Ilıcak abandoned her complaint. The hearing was observed by Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Melda Onur, prosecutor İlhan Cihaner, journalists Oktay Ekşi, Ferai Tınç, Haluk Şahin and Ruşen Çakır and lawyer Eşber Yağmurdereli.

A list of five names requested from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) needed for the preparation of an expert report has not been received by the court board yet. The file of defendant Kaşif Kozinoğlu who died in the meantime as the result of a heart attack was separated from the main file. Additionally, it was announced that the records of a conference given by Yalçın Küçük in February 2011 in Gebze have not been sent to court yet."

It should also be noted that the prison administration confiscated Kozinoğlu's written statement after his death, and refuses to give it or even to show it to anyone else, including his lawyer.

"Defendant Hanefi Avcı completed his speech of defence that he had started at the last session. By means of a projection Avcı explained technical details how documents from computers at the Oda TV office that were also included in the indictment were created at a different computer and then transferred to the Oda TV computers.

Avcı emphasized that he was on anti-terror duties for 20 years and that such a document of an organization was impossible to be true.

[...]

Şener recalled the decision of the Hrant Dink trial and remarked that he was pleased about the fact that he was not released at the last hearing. He declared that the decision of the Dink case confirmed the things he wrote.

Şener stated that the forces behind the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink was the counter-guerrilla just as said by the Trabzon Governor. He added that he would only be able to obtain peace of mind after that trial would have been clarified."

To read the rest of the article, please visit:

http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/135661-sener-dink-decision-confirmed-my-arguments