Court accepts indictment on Avcı-linked terror group

Among the suspects is Hanefi Avcı, the former police chief of the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir. Avcı was arrested and sent to jail in late September due to his links to the terrorist group. The first hearing in the trial will be held on April 13, 2011, the court announced.

Fourteen of the suspects are currently in prison pending trial. The court also decided to send notices to the Interior Ministry, Security General Directorate, National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the General Staff and the Gendarmerie General Command asking for information about the structure and activities of the Revolutionary Headquarters. The indictment accuses the 14 suspects under arrest of “membership in a terrorist organization.” They are also accused of falsifying documents, possessing weapons and munitions, violating the principle of confidentiality of an ongoing investigation and seizing personal data. Prosecutors are seeking up to 51 years in prison for Avcı. The suspects under arrest were detained in mid-September following police operations in various provinces.

The Revolutionary Headquarters was behind a deadly attack on police in İstanbul in 2009 that left one police officer and two civilians dead.

Avcı’s wife is also among the suspects in the Revolutionary Headquarters case. She is not under arrest. Prosecutors have demanded up to 12 years in prison for Mrs. Avcı.

Avcı came into prominence with his book, titled “Haliç’te Yaşayan Simonlar” (Simons in the Golden Horn.) In the book, which experts on criminal law have dismissed as biased, Avcı argues that ongoing criminal investigations aimed at confronting illegal activities within the state, including the probe into Ergenekon -- a clandestine criminal network charged with plotting to overthrow the government -- lack evidence and are based on illegal wiretapping. However, it is well known that the telephone conversations of Ergenekon suspects were legitimately wiretapped by prosecutors overseeing the probe on court orders.

There were earlier claims that Avcı had an affair with Kezban K., a Revolutionary Headquarters member. Kezban K. confirmed the claims and said she started an affair with the former Eskişehir police chief in 2008 when she was married.

A police investigation had revealed that a Revolutionary Headquarters suspect, Necdet Kılıç, was the owner of the SIM card that Avcı, in his book, argued had been illegally wiretapped. In the book Avcı contends he had a SIM card he used to communicate with a small number of people that he later discovered had been wiretapped by court order. “I discovered I was being wiretapped on a SIM card I used to communicate with only two people. My conversations were being listened to by court order. I was monitored as if I were a member of a terrorist organization,” The police also discovered that Kılıç had another SIM card that was being used by Kezban K. The indictment accuses Avcı of violating the principle of confidentiality of an ongoing investigation with his book. According to the indictment, members of the Revolutionary Headquarters learned about the probe from Avcı’s book.

The İstanbul 12th High Criminal Court also asked the İstanbul 9th High Criminal Court to send it a digital copy of the trial of the Revolutionary Headquarters members who are accused of a shootout with police that left three dead and eight wounded in April of 2009. Police officer Semih Balaban, civilian Mazlum Şeker and Orhan Yılmazkaya, an alleged terrorist, were killed in the clash. Prosecutors are demanding prison sentences ranging from seven-and-a-half years to life in prison for the shootout suspects. The case indictment suggests that the Revolutionary Headquarters is part of Ergenekon.