15-year sentence sought for MİT truck prosecutor on terror charges

Aziz Takçı, one of four prosecutors who stopped National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks that were suspected of illegally transporting weapons to Syria in 2014.

An indictment prepared by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office seeks a jail sentence of between seven-and-a-half and 15 years for former prosecutor Aziz Takçı, one of four prosecutors who stopped National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks that were suspected of illegally transporting weapons to Syria in 2014, reported by Turkish Minute.

The prosecutors were arrested in May 2015 on charges of attempting to topple the government.

The government harshly criticized the prosecutors and soldiers involved in the search of the MİT trucks, arguing that both the truck and its personnel were protected by MİT’s immunity, while the prosecutors said the trucks were making illegal arms shipments to rebel groups in Syria.

The indictment demands a merging of the trial of Takçı with an ongoing trial at the Supreme Court of Appeals’ 16th Criminal Chamber as a part of which he faces charges of illegally obtaining state secrets and political espionage.

In the indictment, it is also claimed that Takçı was using ByLock, a smart phone application which is the top communication tool among followers of the faith-based Gülen movement, according to the Turkish government.

In the currently ongoing post-coup purge, over 135,000 people have been purged due to their alleged links to the Gülen movement since July 15, 2016. Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has announced on April 2 that 47,155 people have been jailed while 113,260 people have been detained with the same accusations. According to Soylu’s statement 2,575 judges and prosecutors have been imprisoned since failed coup attempt.

Also, according to a letter released by Christophe Regnard, the President of the International Association of Judges (IAJ), over state of judiciary on Turkey, 24,4 percent of all judges (2538 out of 10382) and 24,3 percent of all prosecutors (1121 out of 4622) in Turkey were dismissed by Turkish government and the majority of them are in detention since July 15, 2016.

Turkey experienced a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement despite the lack of any evidence to that effect. The Gülen movement strongly denies having any role in the putsch.

April 13, 2017

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