Ugur Mumcu Commemorated On The 9th Annivesary Of His Assasination

ANKARA, Jan 24 (A.A) - Nine years have passed since the assasination of journalist-author Ugur Mumcu. All the court files opened in connection with the incidents were resulted. Abdullah Argun Cetin, the first suspect of the Mumcu investigation was acquitted, meanwhile three suspects were sentenced to capital punishment in the case of ''Umut Operation''. Four accused acquitted, and 15 others were sentenced to various imprisonment terms.
Ankara State Security Court (DGM) dealth with the suit following the assasination on Mumcu on January 24, 1993.
Prosecutor Hamza Keles filed a suit against Abdullah Argun Cetin calling for capital punishment on charges that he had been involved in intentional kiling of Mumcu and that he was a member of the gang that was set up with this target.
Trial of Cetin started in Ankara DGM no:1 on January 7, 1999 and continued for one year.
Cetin in the first hearing said they examined the street where Mumcu was assasinated, but that he was not told who would be assassinated. Cetin said he was under pressure, and that he wanted to benefit from Repentance Law. No concrete developments could be recorded in the case in which Cetin was tried.
DGM Prosecutor Keles, upon the information obtained from the CDs and floppy discs which were confiscated in an operation launched against terrorist Hezbollah organization on January 17, 2000 in Istanbul, filed a suit against 17 suspects on July 11, 2000 calling for capital punishment for nine of them.
The indictment about the ''Umut'' (Hope) operation which was launched to find murderers of journalist-writer Ugur Mumcu, and later covered 22 incidents, including assasinations of Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taner Kislali, Prof. Muammer Aksoy and Dr. Bahriye Ucok, said, ''the bomb planted under the automobile of Mumcu was made by suspect Ferhan Ozmen. The bomb included 2.3 kg of C-4 type explosive. The bomb was planted under the automobile by suspect Oguz Demir, and suspect Necdet Yuksel helped him by watching out the street.''
Ankara DGM no: 2 started hearing the case on the Umut Operation on August 14, 2000. Number of suspects increased to 24 after all files were combined. The case was finalized on January 7, 2002.
Suspects Ferhan Ozmen, Necdet Yuksel and Rustu Aytufan were sentenced to capital punishment on charges of ''being a member of an armed gang and attempting to damage constitutional order of the state by using force'' in accordance with Article 146/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
Suspect Abdullah Argun Cetin and four other suspects were acquitted, and case about another suspect was suspended. Meanwhile, 15 suspects were sentenced to imprisonment from 3 years 9 months to 18 years 9 months.
The Umut case lasted for about 17 months.