Judge Neset Eren said at a hearing on Wednesday (September 12) that he was quitting to “distance the court’s decision from any form of indecision or doubt.”
Eren’s announcement came after the plaintiffs’ ultranationalist lawyer submitted a written request on September 4 that the judge resign. Kemal Kerincsiz accused Eren of failing to deal impartially with the case.
Exactly 11 months into the case, Eren had been expected to deliver a ruling at the hearing on Wednesday in Silivri’s criminal court, 45 miles west of Istanbul."
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But at their most recent hearing in July, State Prosecutor Ahmet Demirhuyuk had told the court that there was “not a single piece of credible evidence” to support the accusations against the two men, both converts from Islam to Christianity.
A new state prosecutor, Adnan Ozcan, replaced Demirhuyuk at Wednesday’s hearing.
The courthouse was surrounded by supporters of Kerincsiz and his three young clients, two of them minors, who have accused Tastan and Topal of slandering Turkey and Islam.
“If [Tastan and Topal] had been acquitted, there would have been a large protest,” said the Christians’ lawyer, Gursel Meric.
Meric, who attended the hearing without Tastan and Topal, said that the prosecution attempted to prolong the case by asking for additional testimonies."
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