Court Rejects Arrest Order Against Gülen
With Presiding Judge Huseyin Eken being on leave, Judge Yunus Karabiyikoglu presided over the hearing and stated that no reply had been forthcoming from United States authorities, whom the court had written to asking them to get a testimony from sectarian leader Fethullah Gülen, who is in self-imposed exile in America.
Defense lawyer Abdulkadir Aksoy said they had learned that instructions had come from the U.S. authorities and that they had had the text translated into Turkish. He said the next had asked whether the suspect had a lawyer, whether the indictment had been sent to the suspect officially and if the suspect did have a lawyer, that a formal notification would not be sent to the suspect. Aksoy said if it were found to be necessary he would go to the United States to assist in this matter.
Public Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yuksel submitted a file of evidence to the court while Aksoy asked time to be able to study it. Prosecutor Yuksel than asked that an arrest warrant be issued against the suspect bearing in mind they were still waiting for a reply from the United States authorities, that as a report prepared while Saral and Osman Ak were on duty in the United States was included in the file they did not need to be called as witnesses and that according to the press, the suspect's given address in the United States was false. Presiding Judge Karabiyikoglu ruled that the court wait for the U.S. authorities to reply, to reject the demand that witnesses Saral and Ak not be called and that seven people at the Merter Fatih Primary School be called as witnesses. He also said that as the instruction to have the suspect's testimony taken had not been received, he was going to reject the arrest warrant request 'for the time being' and adjourned the trial. 07.17.2001
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