Tatvan court rejects Aygül's request to hear the deputy mayor and the zoning director as witnesses

RUŞEN TAKVA, BİTLIS

The first hearing in the trial of Bitlis Journalists' Association President Sinan Aygül on the charge of “insult” upon the complaint of two bodyguards, one of whom is a police officer, of former AKP mayor of Tatvan district, Mehmet Emin Geylani, was held on 18 September 2024 at the Tatvan 1st Criminal Court of First Instance.

Before the hearing, Aygül stated that the day before the hearing, a threatening message had been written on the back window of her car parked on the street of her house. Stating that the message read, “You cannot live with this fear, M.E.G. will kill you,” Aygül said that the abbreviation M.E.G. stood for Mehmet Emin Geylani.

Sinan Aygül, his brother Ahmet Aygül, the other defendant on charges of “insult” and “threat,” defense lawyer Berrin Eker and the plaintiff bodyguard Yücel Baysalı were present in the courtroom. Engin Kaplan, a police officer and who was also a bodyguard of the mayor, attended the hearing from the Ankara Courthouse via the judicial videoconferencing system (SEGBİS).

The hearing was monitored by P24 and MLSA as well as many journalists.

After identifications, first Ahmet Aygül made his defense. Aygül said, “I did not make any threats. I do not have any enmity with the complainants. As I said in my statement I gave at the police station before, the social media account alleged to be the user disseminating threatening messages does not belong to me. I demand my acquittal.”

Aygül: “I had to pursue the evidence in my favor myself”

Following Ahmet Aygül, journalist Sinan Aygül took the stand in his defense, repeating the statement he had given at the police station: “I was subjected to an organized attack by these individuals four or five months before the incident that is the subject of the case. My claim was that their instigator was [Tatvan] Mayor Mehmet Emin Geylani. The fact that they were seen together with the mayor immediately after their release strengthened our claim, so I went to the municipality annex building and asked the watchman on duty that day for the CCTV footage showing the mayor and the people who attacked me side by side. When the watchman said he could not give it to me, we shook hands and left. But when my brother told the watchman about it because he knew it would affect the course of my main case, the watchman said, 'I do not understand this CCTV, I will send it to you when someone who does.' So, my brother gave the guard a piece of paper with his phone number written on it.

However, since the court and the prosecutor's office could not find the evidence of the attack on me, I, as a journalist, pursued the case again. Therefore, there is no crime in this case, and I had no criminal intent and no intention to threaten. This case has been a forced case; the indictment was prepared very sloppy, and the evidence in my favor was not collected. There has never been any insult or threat.”

Aygül requested the deputy mayor and zoning director to be heard as witnesses

After the statements given, Sinan Aygül responded to the judge's question “Did you go to the municipality only to get the records of the security cameras?” and said, “Yes, I went to the municipality only to get the records of the security cameras. I even called the deputy mayor and the zoning director of the period and asked for these camera records. For this, I demand that both be heard before the court.”

Taking the floor after the defenses, lawyer Berrin Eker said, “There is no threat as alleged in this indictment. As my clients stated, they requested the camera recordings from the caretaker of the municipality building because they thought that they would be in favor of their own case. When this file is evaluated with all the evidence, it will be seen that the elements of the alleged crime have not occurred. For these reasons, I demand the acquittal of my clients.”

Tension in the courtroom

While the trial judge was dictating the statements to the clerk, the complainant bodyguard Baysalı nodded at the Aygül brothers on the defendant's bench. Sinan Aygül responded with a glare. Seeing what happened, the clerk reported the situation to the judge. Thereupon, the tension ended with the warning given by the judge to both parties.

Baysalı: “I learned from my police friends that they came to kill us”

After the defense statements, the plaintiff Baysalı, who is both a relative and bodyguard of the former mayor, took the floor and said, “They threatened us both on social media and over the phone. Even PKK and KCK threatened my whole family.”

Kaplan, a police bodyguard, said, “On the day of the incident, they came to the municipality in an organized way to attack us. When the municipality watchman realized the situation, he first called 155 and reported the situation to the police news center and then to his superiors in the municipality. I was already informed about the situation by the information given to me by my police colleagues.”

After the defense statements were completed, the court decided to reject Sinan Aygül's request to hear the deputy mayor of the municipality and the zoning director as witnesses on the grounds that they were not relevant to the case, and decided to adjourn the trial until 12 December 2024 for the missing elements in the file to be completed.