Stabbed seven times with a skewer in Menemen Prison, Hazim Sesli is known for his proximity to Abdullah Gul and Ali Babacan, who established a new political party recently. What he said during his latest hearing was quite striking.
Mr. Hazım Sesli has been detained since October 22, 2015. The Erdogan Regime started arrests against the Gülen Movement in 2014 and turned its resentment towards the business people in 2015. While the billion-dollar companies like Koza and Boydak were targeted, the blanket factory owner Mr. Hazım Sesli was also one of the targets.
In this context, after Mr. Sesli was arrested and trustees were appointed to his factories in 2015, all of his assets were confiscated during the state of emergency in 2016. Hazım Sesli was a business person close to the politicians. He was especially known for his relations to the former President Abdullah Gül.
Record for gruesome assault
Mr. Hazım Sesli was subjected to a rather suspicious attack in Menemen Prison, where he was detained. The attacker named Fatih Oktay is a murderer prisoner who has previously flayed his wardmate’s scalp in prison.
Mr. Sesli was taken out of the cell where he was kept and taken with the guards for a weekly family phone call, and the attacker assaulted while on the phone. Fatih Oktay attacked Mr. Hazım Sesli with a piercing tool called skewer. First, the attacker targeted his heart but failed because the skewer hit the phone. Thereafter scuffle started and Mr. Hazım was injured in 7 places on his body. He was taken to the infirmary then to the hospital and subsequently brought back to his cell on the same day.
Fifteen years prison sentence
Mr. Sesli has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. At the hearing at the Uşak 2nd High Criminal Court on September 17, 2019, he said, “There is a lot I know about current ministers and former ministers. I have not spoken until now, but if I speak, some politicians will be brought to the brink of chaos.”
Mr. Hazım Sesli said the following at the hearing in the court on September 17, 2019:
“I repeat my previous statements. The reports issued by The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey on my companies, which are administrated by the trustees now, are unilateral, unlawful, and these companies are managed unlawfully. My companies have been usurped. My companies aided many associations, companies, and foundations run by the government and the ruling AK Party. I have been in prison and a cell for 4 years. Despite all the petitions I have written, no information is given on why the prison authorities treat me antagonistically. Sesli family is discriminated against in every possible way, and it is unjust. We will call out for the mistreatment made later in the eye of law. We will bring these people to account in the same way as the coup plotters of September 12, 1980, and February 28, 1997, were brought to account. There is a lot I know about the current ministers and former ministers. I have not spoken until now, but if I speak, some politicians will be brought to the brink of chaos. I demand that this be known.”
Planned attack
Fatih Oktay, who attacked Mr. Hazım Sesli, said in his first statement that “Mr. Hazım Sesli is a traitor. For this reason, I wanted to kill him. I have carried out this attack because of his words insulting the nation”. However, Hazım Sesli has been in the cell and under isolation for 3.5 years. There is no possibility to speak with the attacker. It is also worth remembering here that Mr. Sesli received refusals from his petitions he gave to lifting the heavy isolation, chatting with other prisoners, and fulfilling his sports rights.
After meeting with his lawyers and relatives after the attack, Mr. Hazım Sesli stated that he considers the incident as a planned one, and it is an order that comes straight from the higher authority.
Taking this into consideration, it is necessary to focus on the attacker Fatih Oktay’s profile and the attack moment.
Earlier in Turkey, there were murders in prisons where the state’s “contribution” was somehow involved, when inspected, and the most featured one was Mustafa Duyar assassination.
Nuri Ergin, who killed Mr. Duyar in his cell, said, “This state instructed me to kill Mustafa Duyar. Learn about me more from Veli Küçük”.
Attacker’s profile
It is a significant point how Fatih Oktay was able to take a piercing tool called “skewer” into a high-security-level prison. According to the allegations of the prison administration, he made the tool himself. However, there is another evident point.
The guards carry out body searches for the detainees or prisoners while they take out them from the cell for their phone-call time. It is another remarkable point that Fatih Oktay was taken out from his cell with his skewer for the phone call at the same time with Mr. Hazım Sesli and that the guards who had to be in the corridor at that moment did not intervene during the 7-times swelling of Sesli.
It was also interesting how Oda TV reported after the incident. The news, titled “They swelled the FETO imam (leader) in prison,” contained sentences to encourage similar attacks.
Another figure that was attacked in prison in the past days was Ömer Köse, former Istanbul Deputy Counter Terrorism Director. Köse was attacked by six guards in the cell where he was kept in Tekirdağ Prison. Köse, just like Sesli, was threatened before the attack, and he reported this situation to the prison administration with a petition saying, “my life safety is at stake.”
