Absolved prime suspect in military spy case seeks 13 million liras in compensation

İZMİR

One of the prime suspects in a military espionage case who was acquitted in February 2016, Bilgin Özkaynak, has opened a compensation case demanding 13.25 million Turkish Liras for his prosecution in which he served two years in jail as part of a Gülenist plot. 
In the espionage case that began in 2013 and which was based on allegedly fabricated evidence, 357 suspects, including 49 then-acting soldiers, were tried on charges of “keeping confidential military information and documents.”

After being acquitted in the case, in which he was accused of being the prime suspect in an organization that illegally acquired military information, Özkaynak opened a compensation case against the state treasury, demanding 3.25 million liras in pecuniary damages and 10 million liras in non-pecuniary damages. 

In their application, the plaintiff emphasized that Özkaynak was tried as the executive of the organization and that in his trial period, all evidence and allegations were fabricated and put in the folder by Gülenist police officers, judges and prosecutors, only for the folder to later be revealed to be a plot.

“When the probe began, our client was a person full of hope who was supervising his job and employees. But with this probe and the trials, the lives of both him and his family were completely changed,” said the application document.

It also added that the plaintiff, during his time under arrest in prison, was subjected to treatment in parallel to the perception that he was a “traitor selling out his nation.” The letter emphasized that the plaintiff was a victim of the Gülenist network.   

The Gülenist network is widely believed to have orchestrated the July 15, 2016, military coup attempt in Turkey.