Court decides to release jailed convicts in ‘military espionage’ case

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

An Istanbul court has decided to release the five jailed convicts in a controversial, so-called “military espionage” case, only a few days after Turkey’s top court ruled that the rights of all 46 people convicted and charged with membership in an illegal organization in the case were violated.

Istanbul’s Fifth High Criminal Court ruled Jan. 12 that five jailed convicts in the military espionage case were to be released, while also canceling the arrest warrants for 38 suspects, who were not arrested.
 
The General Assembly of the Constitutional Court merged the individual applications of the convicts in the case and ruled unanimously that their rights were violated on Jan. 9.

Upon the release of the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Jan. 9, Hüseyin Ersöz, a lawyer for the applicants, appealed to a local heavy penal court in Istanbul for the release of the jailed convicts, demanding that their arrest orders be dropped, and for a stay of execution of imprisonment.

Back in early 2011, the Istanbul 11th Heavy Penal Court accepted an indictment prosecuting 46 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.