Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

New remand in the north for murder suspects
By Simon Bahceli


A TURKISH Cypriot court yesterday ruled that the five men held on suspicion of murdering businessman Elmas Guzelyurt and two members of his family would remain in custody for a further five days.

The case has caused a bitter dispute between judiciaries on either side of the Green Line, with both sides insisting they have the authority to try the suspects. While the Turkish Cypriot police hold the five suspects, the Republic’s police have the evidence that could convict the men.

Guzelyurtlu, his wife Zerrin and fifteen year-old daughter Eylul were found executed, each by a single bullet to the head, early in the morning of January 15 on the Nicosia to Larnaca road.

Neither side are willing to hand either evidence or suspects to the other side, and with virtually no evidence of their own it remains doubtful that the courts in the north will be able to convict the men.

Shortly before yesterday’s ruling, the lawyer representing four of the suspects, Mustafa Bulent Asena resigned from the case. No reason was given by his office for the resignation, but on Wednesday Asena warned he would withdraw from the case if his clients’ remand period was extended saying: “I am a lawyer and I don’t want to be a player in this comedy. If the chief prosecutor insists on keeping my clients in custody, I will exercise my rights as a lawyer and not attend the hearing.”

Although Asena did not represent his former clients yesterday, he attended the hearing. The suspects have been appointed a new lawyer, Kemal Aktay, who repeated Asena’s belief that the suspects should be released due to the absence of evidence against them – something he judge refused to do.

Judge Peri Hakki justified the five’s further detention saying the north’s police needed more time to investigate the triple murder that rocked the island twelve days ago.

The request for more time came from police chief inspector Hasan Esenboga, who told the court investigations were ongoing and that so far 18 people had been interviewed. He said also that police were still seeking the murder weapon and an Alpha Romeo car believed to have been involved in the murder. Search warrants have also been issued for two more suspects still at large, he said.

Esenboga also told the court that Interpol officials from Turkey had been in touch with the north’s authorities suggesting the suspects be extradited via Turkey to south Cyprus.
“We wrote back saying our laws do not allow it,” Esenboga said.
Esenboga was repeating the words of Turkish Cypriot ‘attorney general’ Akin Sait, who said on Wednesday that sending the suspects to the south would be “unconstitutional” and that the Republic should work with the north on conducting the trail against the five.
“No country would hand its citizen to another country to be tried,” he said adding: “This is international law and it has to be accepted as such.

“With the doors between the two communities open there will be many occasions when we will need to work together. There is no alternative but to co-operate,” Sait added.
He warned again that if the Greek Cypriot police insisted on not releasing evidence against the suspects, the north’s authorities might be forced to release them.

“We will go over the evidence and decide whether there is a case against the suspects. If there isn’t, they will be set free. If that happens it will be up to them where they go.”

He added that the north had sent a message via the UN appealing for help from the south, but that the response from the Greek Cypriots had been negative, prompting him to accuse the Greek Cypriot police of having “secret motives” for not providing the Turkish Cypriot court with evidence about the murder.

Sait recalled a case from 1997 in which a Turkish Cypriot wanted for a murder committed in Britain was tried in the north and sentenced to 14 years in jail. The British judiciary accepted the ruling, he said.

“This did not constitute recognition of the TRNC. It was simply one country co-operating with another in order that a criminal could be tried,” he added.

[brother]

The idiots from both sides have made this into a politicol problem.

[metecyp]

The idiots from both sides have made this into a politicol problem.

Well, I think you should say the idiots in the north because the murder happenned in the south, all evidence is there, so the trial should be held in the south.

[brother]

If that is what is required then the idiots in the north shoulde be looking for justice not political gain, and send the suspects over to the south.

[metecyp]

If that is what is required then the idiots in the north shoulde be looking for justice not political gain, and send the suspects over to the south.

Who wants to send the suspects to the south when they can prove to the whole world that justice can be served in the courts in TRNC? You see where I'm getting at? Politics should be banned in Cyprus.

[brother]

well said mete but not going to happen.

[brother]

‘Bring the evidence over’
By Simon Bahceli


Talat tries to end stalemate over Guzelyurtlu suspects’ trial

TURKISH Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday accused the government of committing an “international crime” by refusing to pass vital evidence concerning the murder of businessman Elmas Guzelyurtlu and two of his family members almost three weeks ago.

“The Greek Cypriots say they have the evidence, but keep it hidden. And by keeping the evidence hidden they are protecting those guilty of the crime,” Talat said, again calling on the south’s police to hand over the evidence through “unofficial channels” if they preferred.

Talat also repeated his pledge not to hand the eight suspects now being held in the north over to police in the south.

“If the Turkish Cypriot courts believe there is a case to prosecute the suspects, prosecution processes will begin here,” Talat said.

Meanwhile, the lawyer now representing four of the eight suspects being held in the north refuted comments made by the four’s previous lawyer that the four wished to be tried in the south. The men’s previous lawyer resigned after a court extended his clients’ remand period two weeks ago
“They do not want to go south, and never did,” Turkish Cypriot lawyer Erden Algun told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. He is the four’s third lawyer since their arrest two weeks ago. Asked whether he believed a case could be brought against his clients in the north he said, “I don’t know how they can. They have no evidence”. Algun added that under Turkish Cypriot law investigations could continue for up to three months, during which suspects can be held in custody.

Talat remained hopeful, however, that “political developments” could transpire during the investigation period, bringing to an end the current deadlock where authorities on either side of the Green Line refuse to cooperate.

He added that cooperation was imperative in a situation where citizens were free to cross from one sector to another.

“Drug smuggling is happening every day. While the source of the drugs may be the north, smugglers are caught in the south. But the police in the south do not have access to the suppliers,” he said, adding that an agreement between the two police forces would benefit those interested in fighting crime in both communities.

“Maybe we can come to an agreement to overcome all these problems,” Talat added.

Talat claimed the south’s assertion that they had the right to try the suspects was in contravention to the Republic’s constitution.

“Despite the fact they do not have the right to try the suspects, they still are demanding that they be handed over,” he said. “The victims and the suspects are Turks, meaning they must be tried in a Turkish court by a Turkish judge”.

Talat argued that working with the Turkish Cypriot police to arrest and convict criminals did not constitute recognition of the breakaway regime in the north.

“In the same way as they accept our identity cards and vehicle registrations when we cross to the south, they should accept the work of our police and courts,” he said.

He added: “Since they [the Greek Cypriots] are not ready to find a solution under the auspices of the UN, we suggested coming together to deal with day-to-day problems. But they aren’t even willing to do that”.

Cyprus government spokesman Kypros Chrisostomides rejected Talat’s call for cooperation saying, “There can be no communication with the administration of the occupation regime on this issue,” add that arrest warrants for the suspects held in the north had been issued through Interpol.

“We expect Turkey, which is a member of Interpol, to intervene so the suspects are delivered to the Republic. If Turkey does not respond…it will be seen to be in violation of international agreements to which it is a party”.

A Turkish Cypriot court will decide on Tuesday whether to extend the custody period of all eight suspects.

[brother]

Turkish Cyprus to release suspects in triple murder
AFP: 2/8/2005

NICOSIA, Feb 8 (AFP) - Turkish Cypriot judicial authorities said Tuesday they would release eight suspects held over the murder of a fugitive banker, his wife and daugther citing insufficient evidence to charge them.

The chief prosecutor of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Akin Sait, told the local TAK agency that the decision stemmed from lack of cooperation by authorities in the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot south of the island, where the murders were committed last month.

The material Turkish Cypriot authorities possess in connection with the case is not sufficient to level charges against the suspects, Sait said.

The eight men include four Turkish Cypriots and a Turk. Officials have not yet clarified whether the other three are Turkish or Turkish Cypriots.

They were expected to be relased from jail later in the day.

Greek Cypriot police found the bodies of Elmaz Guzelyurtlu, 52, his wife and teenage daughter beside a highway on January 15, apparently executed at close range in a mafia-style killing.

The Turkish Cypriot banker had fled to the Greek Cypriot south following the collapse in 2000 of his Everest Bank with estimated debts of 42 million dollars that left him a long list of Turkish Cypriot enemies.

The case posed a legal conundrum for the two rival sides of Cyprus as the suspects were detained in the Turkish north, while findings from the crime scene and other possible evidence remained in the hands of authorities in the Greek south.

[tcypriot]

Well done illegal terrorist regime of south cyprus, a clear sign of goodwill!! What more can someone wait from a terrorist regime other than saving the criminals?! Imagine us having a common state with this greek cypriot leadership.

[brother]

Look the crime took place in the south hence the south should be the one to conduct the investigation.

This should not be a political tool.