Former minister escapes possible jail time in Turkey

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

Turkey’s former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar. DHA photo

Turkey’s former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar has once again escaped the possibility of being imprisoned, after an Ankara court revoked its probation verdict today.

The Ankara 11th Criminal Court accepted the objection of Ağar’s lawyer, Abdülkadir Toluç, to probation in the unsolved murders case.

The same court had approved an indictment demanding life sentences for 12 suspects, including former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar and former Chief of Police İbrahim Şahin, over the murder of Mecit Baskın on Oct. 2.

Prosecutor Mustafa Bilgili filed charges of “homicide within the framework of activity of an armed organization established to commit crime.” Baskın was the former head of the registry office in Ankara’s Altındağ district.

The indictment accuses the suspects of involvement in the killing of Baskın by kidnapping him in Ankara and shooting him at night, Anadolu Agency reported. 

Ağar had previously served one and a half years in prison for his role in the Susurluk scandal, a case involving a shadowy, illegal organization in the 1990s.