Warrants issued for 45 Turkish navy soldiers over alleged use of ByLock app

ISTANBUL

Istanbul prosecutors on Dec. 27 issued detention warrants for 45 navy soldiers for allegedly using ByLock, an encrypted messaging application said to have been used by members of the Gülenist movement, who are believed to be behind the July 15 coup attempt. 

Police launched its second ByLock operation in the early hours of Dec. 27 against military officers accused of using ByLock. The Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office’s anti-terror and organized crimes bureaus sought to detain 45 navy soldiers from different ranks, highest of which is staff lieutenant colonel.  

In operations carried out across Turkey, five soldiers in Istanbul, one in the southern province of Hatay and one in the western province of Kocaeli were detained. 

Some 44 soldiers were identified as on-duty soldiers while one was dismissed earlier from the army. 

In the first ByLock operation, Istanbul prosecutors sought to detain 530 soldiers, which 320 of them were captured. 

Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office prepared a fifth indictment on Dec. 27 related to the July 15 coup attempt, seeking various sentences for 70 Air Force Academy students, three commanders and two soldiers who worked as drivers in the military. 

In the 180-page indictment against the suspects, 72 of whom are arrested, prosecutors sought aggravated life-term sentences for all on charges of attempting to abolish the constitutional order, the Turkish Parliament and the Turkish government by using force.

The suspects, also face terms of up to 15 years in jail for alleged membership to an “armed terror organization,” while the drivers face up to 10 years in jail on charges of committing crimes on behalf of an organization without being a member of it.