Can Dündar gets 27-year prison term in espionage trial

ANKARA- Anadolu Agency

A Turkish court on Dec. 23 sentenced Can Dündar to 27 years and six months in prison for aiding the terror group FETÖ by publishing state secrets, although not being a part of the hierarchical structure of the organization.

Under the indictment submitted to Istanbul’s High Criminal Court no:14 on Oct. 14, Dündar could get anywhere from about 22 to 35 years behind bars.

The trial was held in absentia of Dündar, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) head Hakan Fidan were represented by their attorneys.

The Public Prosecutor repeated his opinion on the sentence - 15 to 20 years for espionage and 7.5 to 15 years for aiding the terror group.

The court sentenced the defendant to 18 years and nine months in jail over charges of "providing information - which should remain confidential for the security of the state or domestic or foreign political benefits - with a purpose of political or military espionage".

The court also said Dündar aided the FETÖ terror group although he was not part of the hierarchical structure of the terror group, adding that the defendant was the editor-in-chief of a publicly known Turkish daily (Cumhuriyet) on the date of the crime and created a perception among the public in favor of the terror group via publishing the news which was also later used by the terrorist organization.

Noting that the story circulated in the international arena to reduce Turkey's political power to a position of "a state sponsor of terrorism" both in the domestic public and in the international arena, the court said the penalty to Dündar was thus given avoiding the lower limit, considering the caused damage and the gravity of the danger, as well as the benefit provided to the terrorist organization.

So, over the charges of aiding a terror group, Dündar was sentenced to eight years and nine months.

In total, he is sentenced to 27 years and six months in prison.

Dündar was facing charges over revealing state secrets by publishing images of MIT trucks purportedly transporting arms to Syria.

The indictment said that in publishing the images, Dündar helped the FETÖ without being a member of the terror group.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated a defeated coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016, leaving 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.