Four prosecutors arrested in Syria-bound intel trucks case transferred to Ankara

Fatih Tekeci – ANKARA

The four prosecutors who ordered the stopping and searching of Syria-bound intelligence trucks in January 2014 and were later arrested on charges of attempting to topple the government, were transferred to Ankara late Aug. 2, from Turkey’s southern district of Tarsus. 

Former Adana Chief Public Prosecutor Süleyman Bağrıyanık and prosecutors Aziz Takçı, Özcan Şişman and Ahmet Karaca were transferred to Ankara under high security measures with a Turkish Airlines plane late Aug. 2. 

The prosecutors, who had given orders to stop and search Syria-bound National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks in the southern province of Hatay on Jan. 1, 2014, and in the southern province of Adana on Jan. 19 of the same year, were reported to be transferred to Ankara on grounds they would be tried in the Supreme Court of Appeals. 

The four prosecutors will be kept at the Sincan Prison during the trial. 

After a crisis erupted due to the stopping of the MİT trucks, the second chamber of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) decided on Jan. 15 to remove Bağrıyanık, Takçı, Şişman, Karaca and Yaşar Kavalcıklıoğlu, the five prosecutors involved in the incident, from duty until the investigation against them was finalized.

Arrest warrants for Bağrıyanık, Takçı, Şişman, Karaca, and former Adana Gendarmerie Commander Özkan Çokay were issued May 6, on the grounds of “attempting to topple or stop it [the Turkish government] partially or completely from doing its duty by using force and violence.” They were arrested afterwards. 
The Tarsus 2nd Court of Serious Crimes had ruled June 10 the four prosecutors and the former commander would remain under arrest, after the defendants’ attorneys left the court session when the judge refused their demand that the court hear the five defendants’ testimonies.

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