Cahit Nakıboğlu, a 70-year-old businessman who spent nearly 1,5 years behind the bars as part of the government’s post-coup crackdown against the Gülen movement, was re-arrested only a day after he was released under house arrest.
The new ruling to re-jail him came hours after the pro-government journalist Cem Küçük criticized the initial court decision to conditionally release him.
Nakıboğlu was first arrested on July 14, 2016 over his alleged ties to the Gülen movement. A Gaziantep court released him under a house arrest due to Nakıboğlu’s medical problems during a hearing on Jan 4, 2018.
“Oh, Nakıboğlu was released as well. Good (!) decision. Continue like that,” Küçük tweeted the same day.
Nakıboğlu was jailed again on Friday, upon an objection by the prosecutor against his release decision
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. Turkey’s Interior Minister had announced on December 12, 2017 that 55,665 people have been arrested. Previously, on December 13, 2017, The Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (SCF with turkeypurge.com)
