MURDER SUSPECTS ACCUSE EACH OTHER IN MALATYA TRIAL

Compass Direct News : TURKEY - MURDER SUSPECTS ACCUSE EACH OTHER IN MALATYA TRIAL

All seven suspects on trial for the brutal murder of three Christians in Turkey in April 2007 appeared in court yesterday – each one protesting his innocence and incriminating one or more of the others. The hearing in eastern Turkey marked the first time the five jailed murderers and two accused accomplices have appeared together in court to be cross-examined over contradictions among their individual court testimonies. In addition to the five accused murderers – Hamit Ceker, Cuma Ozdemir, Abuzer Yildirim, Salih Gurler and Emre Gunaydin – two others, Kursat Kocadag and Mehmet Gokce, face charges as accomplices. Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske were tied up, stabbed and tortured for several hours before their throats were slit at Zirve Publishing offices. Four of the suspects have said they were afraid of Gunaydin because of his alleged connections with local police and mafia figures, coupled with his violent threats against them and their families if they tried to pull out of the plot. The court’s first attempt to untangle the defendants’ contradictions was hamstrung by Gunaydin’s refusal to answer any questions by plaintiff attorneys.