Prosecutor, judges face jail time for misconduct in ‘military espionage’ case

Former Istanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Fikret Seçen, who prepared the indictment of the espionage case, and judges Metin Özçelik, Mehmet Ekinci and Birol Bilen, who saw the case, face jail time for allegedly hiding or extorting an official document, slander and professional misconduct. The indictment also demanded an arrest warrant for Seçen. 

According to the document, Seçen did not reveal a document from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) that was demanded by the defense lawyer in the case, Naim Karakaya, and put it under protection with the property and evidence unit.  

The judges also rejected Karakaya’s demand for the document to be included in the case’s dossier. 

The indictment said the documents from TUBİTAK bore information which would clarify the legal situation of the defendants and that they were not “criminal materials” that needed to be registered by the evidence unit but rather technical documents and were considered as evidence in defense of the defendants. 

In the indictment, Seçen was also detected as fleeing the country two days before a travel ban was issued against him and therefore an arrest warrant demand was made. 

Seçen and the three judges had been suspended last year in line with an “examination and investigation permit” issued by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) with the Istanbul Public Chief Prosecutor’s Office’s demand after news reports were published in July 2014 alleging that Seçen had “hid conspiracy documents.”   

The military espionage case refers to the 2011 prosecution of 56 members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on charges of military espionage and blackmailing. The charges brought against them included illegal wiretapping, founding a criminal organization and espionage. The indictment alleged that the accused intended to share information with third parties in return for financial gain.