Turkey: Fugitive in espionage trial gets 27 years

ISTANBUL/ANKARA

An Istanbul court on Wednesday sentenced a fugitive to over 27 years in prison for aiding a terrorist group by publishing state secrets in 2014 about Turkey’s intelligence services.

The trial of Can Dundar was held in absentia, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), were represented by their attorneys.

Prosecutors had sought 15-20 years in prison for espionage plus seven-and-a-half to 15 years for aiding the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group responsible for a 2016 defeated coup.

The court sentenced Dundar to nearly 19 years for revealing state secrets “for purposes of political or military espionage."

The court also said Dundar aided the terror group FETO without being a member, adding that as editor-in-chief of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, he created a public perception in favor of FETO by publishing news reports which the terror group later used.

The news report from early 2014 concerned gendarmerie officers affiliated with FETO stopping a group of MIT trucks en route to Syria, despite government orders to let them pass.

Saying that circulation of the story sought to falsely paint Turkey's as "a state sponsor of terrorism" both in Turkey and abroad, the court said Dundar’s sentence was given in light of the damage he caused and the benefit provided to the terrorist group.

Call for extradition

After the verdict, Turkey's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Dundar should be extradited back to Turkey to face justice.

"Can Dundar was convicted on charges of espionage and assisting a terrorist organization. To call him a journalist – and his sentence, a blow to free speech – is an insult to real journalists everywhere," Altun said on Twitter.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated a defeated coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016, leaving 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

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