The worst of the worst of the American justice system was displayed at a New York court late Wednesday when a jury found the deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank Mehmet Hakan Atilla guilty on five counts while he was acquitted on money laundering charges.
Atilla was being tried in the United States on charges that he had breached the now-lifted U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab pled guilty to all the charges against him and agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors as a witness against Atilla.
During the trial the court heard a recorded conversation of Zarrab with his uncle where he said he had to lie and accept all the charges brought against him to prevent being sent to prison. He said the American legal system allows liars to evade prison.
Zarrab was detained last year in Miami on charges of violating sanctions against Iran, while Atilla was arrested in the U.S. earlier this year on similar sanctions violations charges.
The prosecutors who arrested Zarrab have links to the Fetullah Gülen criminal gang that tried to stage a military coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016. Yet the trial went on creating a deep impression that Gülen had hijacked the American legal system in New York. A great tragedy for the American legal system and a massive charade.
Defense attorneys made a second mistrial request before the verdict was announced, saying that prosecutors questioned Atilla based on a report prepared by a fugitive member of Gülen's criminal gang, Osman Zeki Canıtez, in an attempt to strengthen the government's case. The request was again declined by Judge Richard Berman, whose links to the Gülen gang has long overshadowed the trial. Yet another proof of the charade being staged in the New York court.
Canıtez admitted he had been smuggled out of Turkey by the FBI, given $50,000 for his services and was being hosted in the U.S. by the U.S. authorities, which adds to the legal charade.
The judge and the prosecutors went to pains during the trial to point the finger at Turkish political figures in a bid to serve Gülen who could not topple the government during the July 15 bloody coup attempt. Yet another part of the charade.
So it all boils down to a Turkish citizen being persecuted at a New York court that is run by a tainted judge and a questionable prosecutor who butchered justice by admitting so-called evidence which was doctored by the Gülen gang.
Zarrab who allegedly committed the so-called crime will go free or get a very light sentence. Beyond all that has a crime being committed? Can anyone with a conscience accept this?
Can we just let the wolves get at Hakan Atilla who simply did his job?
Just because the American government decided doing business with Iran was a crime you cannot arbitrarily send people of another nationality to jail. Will President Donald Trump stand for this charade? Or will he pardon Atilla?