Council completes its report on OdaTV case

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish journalist Nedim Şener (C) , who is one of the 14 suspects in the case, was released from jail on March 12, 2012 after one year in Istanbul’s Silivri prison. AA photo

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) has sent its long-expected report to the court in the OdaTV case. “Viruses were detected in the examined computers. However, we did not detect anything about whether the documents were transferred with viruses or not,” the report read.

TÜBİTAK’s 339-page report about OdaTV case, which was seven months in the making, arrived at the court yesterday. As part of the case, TÜBİTAK examined three different computers and detected viruses in them, but they “did not detect anything about whether the documents were transferred with viruses or not,” according to the report.

The report was demanded from TÜBİTAK on Jan. 28 by the Istanbul 16th Court for Serious Crimes, as part of the OdaTV case, in which journalists Nedim Şener, Ahmet Şık and Soner Yalçın are charged. Istanbul’s 16th Court for Serious Crimes asked for the report in order to examine whether documents in some convicts’ and lawyers’ case files were sent to their computers via viruses. The court demanded TÜBİTAK assign an expert for the case.

After the report faced serious delay the court issued a letter to TÜBİTAK two months ago demanding “the preparation of the report as soon as possible.”

The report, which was urgently demanded by the court, arrived at the court after seven months. The report was signed by three experts and examined three different computers belonging to the convicts Barış Pehlivan and Müesser Yıldız, and OdaTV. It indicated that viruses were detected on the computers after the examinations. However, no findings were detected in regards to whether the documents entered the computers via viruses or not. The court board is reportedly examining the report now.

The case regarding Oda TV, an online news portal known for its fierce criticism of government policies, began after police conducted a search of the website’s offices in February 2011 as part of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation.