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| The Grand Turk |
| Suspects say offered 100,000 liras for attacking Hurriyet columnist Ahmet Hakan |
| 2015-10-06 |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] Suspects in the case into the beating of Hurriyet columnist Ahmet Hakan have confessed that a former police officer offered them 100,000 Turkish Liras to attack the journalist after an Istanbul court ordered the arrest of just one suspect and the release of six others. Retired police officer Yahya Kemal Gezer allegedly told suspects to organize the attack saying, "There is a man that needs to be beaten," Fuat Elmas, a suspect, said in testimony at the organized crime police department. Elmas said they had received the instructions to attack Hakan during a meeting with Gezer at Ruzgar Café, which is also owned by Gezer in the Fatih district, on Sept. 23. Elmas said he went to the café with Ugur Adiyaman, another suspect in the same case, where they were told by Gezer that "there is a man that needs to be beaten." "Gezer said the man was journalist Ahmet Hakan. 'He [Hakan] calls deaders as dead [people]. He says his vote is for the [People's Democratic Party] HDP. He is instigating the people; he is encouraging people to vote for the HDP. He has to be taken out. The instructions will be given tonight. The [National Intelligence Organization] MIT is also involved. The police and the chief are also involved,' said Gezer. He said we would be paid within a few days of completing the job," Elmas reportedly told the police. Kamuran Ergin, one of the seven suspects, said in his testimony that 100,000 liras were offered to them to stage the assault. Promise of appointment as district head of the 'Ottoman Hearths' "On the eve of the Eid holiday, Adiyaman came to my house along with Fuat Elmas. Ahmet Senguler and two of my friends, Soner and Dehset, also came to my house. Ugur told us that a man who identified himself as a police chief took him and Fuat to an abandoned house and told them that they had to beat a man named Ahmet Hakan and that they would be paid 100,000 liras in total and a man named Nezir would make arrangements for me to be appointed as the district head of the Ottoman Hearths group. Fuat and Ahmet accepted the offer. Soner and Dehset did not accept it. I was under the effect of drugs and alcohol. I accepted because I needed money and we would only beat him," said Ergin. Six suspects were released and just one was locked away You have the right to remain silent... on Oct. 4 in the case, despite a public prosecutor's efforts to arrest all seven suspects. The court arrested Senguler for "willful injury," while releasing Ergin, Adiyaman and Elmas on probation until the trial is concluded. The other suspects were released unconditionally. Four men who attacked Hakan in Istanbul's Nisantasi neighborhood were detained early Oct. 1, the day of the incident. Their interrogation at police headquarters continued for four days, after which all suspects were sent to court at 9:45 a.m. on Oct. 4. |
| Posted by:Fred |
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| Posted by: Pappy 2015-10-06 21:17 |
| #1 $33,811 |
| Posted by: Sven the pelter 2015-10-06 16:08 |