Secret witness Gürgen contradicts himself at İBB trial: 'There is no situation I personally witnessed'

At the 109th hearing of the İBB trial held in Silivri, secret witness Gürgen, who connected via SEGBİS, contradicted the statements he gave during the investigation phase. Asked by the panel in court about the allegations he had set out in definitive accounts at the prosecutor's office, Gürgen said: 'There is no situation I witnessed or personally saw. That is how the talk was, I don't remember.'

Only 4 of the 21 secret witnesses in the file were requested to be heard in court; 17 witnesses were not summoned to the hearing. The critical witness İlke, cited 61 times in the indictment, could not be heard at the hearing. It was conveyed in additional folders that İlke had said, 'I do not want to testify secretly, lift my protective measures'; although the presiding judge stated that İlke's identity could be disclosed if he appeared, the witness could not be produced.

The other secret witness heard, Zeytin, also said that he had heard some names in the market, that he was speculating, and that he drew connections between them himself.

İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, detained for 602 days, said in his defense: 'This coup was not carried out with a memorandum, it was carried out with secret witnesses. Two out of 21 came; Gürgen, Zeytin. Is there any "I heard it, I personally witnessed it"? No. So has this case not collapsed now?' At the end of the hearing, the prosecutor requested that all defendants remain in detention.

The case has 436 defendants, 46 of them in detention. Barış Kılıç, detained for 20 months, was first released under judicial control; he was re-arrested four days later upon the prosecutor's objection. His lawyer Cansu Çifçi said there was no concrete evidence against her client and that the detention had turned into an execution of sentence.