Turkish court sentences defendants in MİT trucks case

ANKARA- Anadolu Agency

A Turkish court on June 28 sentenced a group of seven gendarmerie officers and prosecutors over the 2014 case of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks stopped illegally near the Turkish-Syrian border.

All but two of the defendants, convicted by Ankara’s 16th Supreme Court of obtaining and disclosing confidential state documents, got sentences of at least two decades behind bars.

In the incident which led to the convictions, gendarmerie officers affiliated with the FETÖ stopped a group of MİT trucks on their way to Syria, despite government orders to let them pass.

On July 15, 2016, FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen also orchestrated a defeated coup in Turkey, leaving 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the Turkish state through the infiltration of Institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

In the MİT trucks case, former Gendarmerie Commander Col. Özkan Çokay and former Brig. Gen. Hamza Celepoğlu were both sentenced to about 20 years in prison.

Süleyman Bağrıyanık, Adana’s former chief public prosecutor, got over 22 years in prison.

Former Adana prosecutor Ahmet Karaca was sentenced to 26 years.

Former Adana prosecutor Aziz Takcı was sentenced to 26 years, and former prosecutor Özcan Şişman was sentenced to over 17 years in prison.