BRUSSELS - After Wednesday`s session whether to try Fehriye Erdal for crimes she committed in Turkey, a Belgian court in Gent is expected to announce its decision on March 29th.
Erdal, one of the suspects in the January 1996 killing of prominent Turkish businessman Ozdemir Sabanci, was arrested in Belgium on September 26th, 1999.
Turkey appealed to Belgium for Erdal`s extradition but Belgian authorities turned down the demand because of the death penalty back then in force in Turkey.
In 2005, the court ruled that Erdal could not stand trial in Belgium for crimes she committed in Turkey. Yet Belgium`s Supreme Court of Appeals annulled this verdict in 2006.
"I do not believe that Erdal will stand trial for her crimes in Turkey because Belgium does not respect international laws and fails to cooperate in matters of justice," Fernand Schmitz, one of the lawyers of the Sabanci family, told reporters.
"The Belgian prosecution is on a terrorist`s side," Schmitz said.
If the court in Gent reaffirmed its ruling once again to prevent trial, Sabanci family would appeal once again to the Supreme Court, which would say the final word.
Erdal, also a member of the illegal Revolutionary People`s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), is still at large after Belgian intelligence units lost her trace on Feb. 28th, 2006, just two days before another Belgian court sentenced her to four years in prison for crimes she committed in Belgium.