Release of 4 defendants in 'Newborn gang' case

Due to the insufficient capacity of the 22nd High Criminal Courtroom of the Bakırköy Courthouse, the hearing is being held in the conference hall. The third hearing of the case was attended by 25 arrested defendants, including Fırat Sarı, the alleged leader of the criminal organization, some defendants who are not arrested, complainants and lawyers. After the doctor İlker Gönen, who was being tried while in custody, committed suicide in the prison where he was being held, the number of defendants became 46. The hearing began with a roll call at around 10:50.

'THE INVESTIGATION PHASE WAS CONDUCTED UNSUCCESSFULLY AND INCOMPLETELY'

The lawyer of the arrested defendant Serdar Yüksel said, "We do not accept the indictment in any way." The lawyer of the arrested defendant Rıza Keykubad said, "I request that the requests for participation be rejected. We do not accept the adverse points related to causing the death of baby Kaya. The investigation phase was unsuccessful and incomplete."

'EVERYONE IS TELLING US TO SWALLOW THE BOMB AND EXPLODE'

The lawyer of Tuğçe Toptemel, one of the people who threatened prosecutor Yavuz Engin and the defendant in custody, said, "There have been many references to Kurtlar Vadisi in this file. I will also say a line from that series; 'There is a bomb with a pulled pin, everyone is telling us to swallow the bomb and explode.' We risked our lives, we are thinking about who we will take with us. They used my client as a battering ram. My client cannot be released because his name was mentioned in the incident of threatening the prosecutor. There is no rush for the right. Since our names were mentioned in this incident, our burden of defense has increased a lot, everyone is saying, 'If he is not guilty, why was his name mentioned in this incident?' He thought. According to legal evidence, the client was one of the most likely people to be released even during the investigation phase. Because he was not even held responsible in the expert opinion, it was very possible for him to be released in this respect; this was not done. Then came the threatening process and the video being circulated. When I watched the threatening video, I really felt sorry for Tuğçe, I thought about how she would handle this burden. She has carried it until now. Let's watch that video carefully, the person who threatened him also mentions other people. The reason why the person who made this threat probably wanted to have his client released was because his client was already in a position where he could be released legally. He would take it upon himself to do this and say to the other arrested defendants, 'We had Tuğçe released, those who want to be released should come to us, not to the lawyers.'" After the defense of the defendant Tuğçe Toptemel's lawyer, the hearing was adjourned for 2 hours at around 12:00 for the announcement of the interim decision.

RELEASE DECISION FOR 4 DEFENDANTS

The court panel, which announced its interim decision, ruled that the arrested defendants Emine Avcı, patient rights officer at Birinci Hospital, Funda Özen, medical accountant at Esenyurt Reyap Hospital, ambulance driver Hüseyin Gündüz and emergency call center employee Serdar Yüksel be released on condition of judicial control, considering the time they spent in detention.

SEPARATE REVIEW FOR BABIES

The court ruled that the file be sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute to conduct separate examinations for the deceased babies, and that a report be prepared to determine whether there was a fault in medical practice and whether there was a causal link between the faulty behavior and the death, and sent to the court. The court also ruled that the other 21 defendants should remain in custody and adjourned the hearing to 10:00 on Monday, April 21, to resolve the missing issues.

DHA