Former chief adviser of CHP head given 10 years in prison for Gülen-linked terror charges

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court on Dec. 26 handed a former chief adviser for main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a 10-year prison sentence on charges of “being a member of an armed terror organization,” for alleged links to the Gülen network, accused of being behind last year’s failed coup attempt, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

The Istanbul court had ordered the arrest of Associate Professor Fatih Gürsul on Dec. 22, 2016 on charges of “being a member of armed terror organization.”

The Istanbul 25th high criminal court announced its ruling on Dec. 26 that about a total of 11 defendants, seven of whom were tried with arrest, during the hearing over the academic structure of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) within Istanbul University.

Gürsul was given 10 years and six months in prison “on charges of being a member of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure.”

The prosecutor in the case had previously demanded up to 15 years in prison for the defendants.

Gürsul had reportedly used ByLock, an encrypted messaging application said to have been used by the followers of the U.S.-based Fethullah Gülen, and he was on the red list.

He had been suspended from Istanbul University, where he previously worked as a lecturer, with a state of emergency decree law issued after the attempted takeover.

He was a former adviser to Kılıçdaroğlu in the science, technology and communication fields.

The party had stated that Gürsul had not actively served as an adviser to the CHP leader after he was suspended from his duty at the university.