Another 19 people to be tried on spying charges in probe into search of Turkish intelligence trucks

ADANA – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

A new lawsuit has been opened against 19 more suspects on charges of spying, as part of an ongoing investigation into trucks belonging to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) that were stopped and searched by soldiers in January.

The MİT trucks, bound for Syria, caused a crisis after one was stopped on Jan. 1 in the southern province of Hatay. Another group of trucks was searched by security forces in the southern province of Adana on Jan. 19.

The government slammed the prosecutors and soldiers involved in the operations, arguing that both the truck and its personnel were protected by the MİT’s legal immunity.

The investigation into the two incidents, conducted by the Adana Public Prosecutor’s Office, has been completed, according to a statement released by the office. It added that 19 more suspects are also set to be tried, in addition to the 13 soldiers whose trials are already ongoing.

All suspects face charges of “obtaining information that was supposed to be kept secret for the safety of the state, and revealing information for the purpose of political or military spying.”

The first lawsuit was opened against 13 soldiers who conducted the search on the MİT trucks in Adana. In the second phase of the probe, 60 suspects were prosecuted but a lawsuit was only opened against 19 of them, including four people for the Hatay incident and 15 for the incident in Adana. The prosecutor dismissed the charges for the 41 other people.

The Adana 7th High Criminal Court hearing the cases decided to conduct the trials confidentially and issued a broadcast ban, on the grounds that information deemed to be state secrets would be discussed during the trials.