All 357 suspects acquitted in military espionage case in İzmir

İZMİR

A court in the Aegean province of İzmir has acquitted 357 suspects, including active duty soldiers, in the trial of a military espionage case where the defendants were accused of “keeping confidential military information and documents.”

The case was filed in İzmir in 2012 and involved the trial of 357 people, including 49 regular soldiers, accused of possessing secret military information and documents. It was based on the 10th clause of Turkey’s Anti-Terror Law (TMK) and the controversial indictment was some 2,000 pages long.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Feb. 15 that the acquittal of all defendants was demanded.

“This is what we’ve long been wishing for,” the agency quoted former military Col. Coşkun Başbuğ as saying outside a courthouse in İzmir as a hearing of the case was ongoing, adding that the evidence stated in the indictment of the case was fabricated by the followers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen working as insiders in police and military institutions in Turkey.

Gülen is accused by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of forming and heading a terrorist organization to topple the Turkish government through moles in the police department and other state institutions.