Top judicial body sends file on prime coup plotter suspect to parliamentary commission

ANKARA

The Turkish High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) has sent a file on Adil Öksüz, one of the prime suspects of the July 15 coup attempt who was released shortly after his detention, to the parliamentary commission formed to investigate the thwarted coup. 

HSYK said Öksüz was freed even though he was under “strong suspicion.” The file listed hour-by-hour details of Öksüz’s detention, daily Sabah reported on Dec. 8.

According to the HSYK’s report, notices on the coup plotters who were trying to escape the Akıncı Air Base, a major center in Ankara used by the coup plotters, now renamed Mürted, were received by the police between 9 and 10 a.m. on July 16.   

After the notices, police officers and gendarmerie forces caught 29 people, of whom three were civilians and 26 were high-ranking soldiers, including Öksüz. 

Öksüz and the others were later taken to a gendarmerie command building where police officers from the Ankara police headquarters conducted pre-trial proceedings. 

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s office demanded Öksüz and the others should be taken to Ankara police headquarters’ anti-terror branch, but only two civilians and 16 sol-diers were taken, while Öksüz and other soldiers continued to be held in the initial location. In the meantime, 87 people surrendered to police at the Akıncı Air Base. 

On July 16, the building ran out of space to hold the suspects, meaning 98 coup-plotters, including Öksüz, were sent to the Ankara West Public Prosecutor’s Office. After proce-dures, the suspects were taken to the Ankara West Courthouse’s custodial prison. 

Öksüz’s interrogation was completed at around 2:28 a.m. on July 18 and the court or-dered his release at 7:37 a.m. subject to judicial control. Öksüz was released at 11:22 a.m. 

The investigation into the prosecutor who interrogated Öksüz and the judges who or-dered his release is ongoing.