-COURT TO ANNOUNCE ITS VERDICT ON JUNE 22ND
BRUSSELS (AA) - The Bruges court in Belgium continued hearing the case of 12 members of the illegal Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) including Fehriye Erdal on Wednesday.
The suspects are being tried on charges of crimes they had committed in Belgium. The court will also decide whether the suspects could be tried in Brussels for crimes they had committed in Turkey.
During today's hearing, the court listened to statements of lawyers of the suspects and of Fernand Schmitz, the lawyer of the Sabanci family.
The court will announce its verdict on June 22nd.
Erdal, one of suspects of the killing of businessman Ozdemir Sabanci, Toyota-Sa Director General Haluk Gorgun and his secretary Nilgun Hasefe on January 9th, 1996, was arrested in Belgium on September 26th, 1999.
Belgium turned down Turkey's request for her extradition because of death penalty once in force in Turkey.
Erdal was kept under house arrest after serving one-year imprisonment term. She is accused by Belgian authorities of being a member of a terrorist organization, carrying unlicensed weapon and using false ID cards.
If the court rules that the suspects could be tried in Belgium for the crimes they had committed in Turkey, the trial will be held at the High Criminal Court comprising 12-member jury. Erdal can face life imprisonment if convicted for murder of Sabanci.
(UK-MS)
2005-06-01