- Title: TURKEY: SECOND GROUP OF BOMBING SUSPECTS APPEAR IN COURT
- Date: 1st July 2004
- Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JULY 1, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PRISON VAN CARRYING SUSPECTS ARRIVING OUTSIDE STATE SECURITY COURT 0.05 2. SLV TURKISH POLICE GETTING OUT OF VAN 0.18 3. WIDE OF POLICE INSIDE PRISON, BEHIND BARS 0.24 4. SLV TURKISH POLICE SURROUNDING SUSPECTS 0.57 5. WIDE OF POLICE SITTING ON A BENCH 1.02 6. VARIOUS
- Embargoed: 16th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ISTANBUL, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Reuters ID: LVABX0LL0BDXIT5XIHX17CRVT5TR
- Story Text: Second group of bombing suspects appear in Istanbul
court.
A second group of suspects, accused of involvement
in last year's deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul appeared
in court on Thursday (July 1) in the Turkish capital.
A total of 69 suspected Islamic militants were arrested
after four truck bombings in November which killed 60
people and wounded hundreds. The suspects are alleged to
belong to a Turkish al-Qaida cell which authorities say
plotted the suicide attacks. Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda
network claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks on two
synagogues, the British consulate and London-based bank
HSBC in November 2003.
Hearings in the trial resumed on Wednesday (June 30),
with a security court carrying out "non-essential
procedures" in the case.
Newspapers on Thursday reported that the wife of one of
the alleged ringleaders of the cell told the court on
Wednesday that her husband was a murderer and she wanted a
divorce.
Cemile Akdas, the wife of Habib Akdas, is charged with
membership in an illegal organization and aiding and
abetting terrorists.
Her husband is believed to have fled abroad and hasn't
been formally charged.
Newspapers said Cemile Akdas, who was detained shortly
after the November attacks, told the court that she
travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan with her husband in
2001, but denied any intentional involvement in the
attacks.
Prosecutors claim Akdas and Mediha Yildirim, married
to another top suspect in a religious ceremony that isn't
recognized in secular Turkey, helped to pass on
bomb-making material used in the attacks and knew in
advance that their husbands planned to flee.
Both women have denied the charges.
Sixty-one people, including U.K. Consul-General Roger
Short, were killed and more than 600 others injured in the
November attacks on two synagogues, the British Consulate
and the local headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank
(HBC).
The proceedings opened earlier this month, but the
court ruled it didn't have authority to rule on the case
because of recent legal reforms. The court agreed to begin
hearing testimony after President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
approved a law Tuesday giving a new mandate to the court.
It will, however, take another two weeks for the court to
become fully operational.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer signed new legislation on
Tuesday that will replace the security courts with civilian
criminal courts, according to a statement on the
presidential website.
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