Public prosecution into wiretapping in Adana

ADANA

Nine police officers in the southern province of Adana are facing public prosecution as part of an investigation into illegal wiretapping. 

Nine police officers, eight of whom are on active duty while the other is retired, were arrested as part of the investigation on April 8. They were released five days after their arrests.

Security forces detained the officers after raiding and searching their houses early on April 8.

According to a statement released by the Adana Public Prosecutor’s Office, the police officers are charged with “fraud in official documents,” “making up crimes,” “violating the privacy of communication,” “wiretapping private conversations and recording them,” “violating the privacy” and “recording personal data.”

The officers will face prosecution in an Adana court.

The former deputy head of the Adana Police Department, İ.B., who was responsible for the intelligence branch, was among the reported detainees, along with the branch’s former chief, E.Y.

Both İ.B. and E.Y. were both removed from their posts following the wide-scale corruption operations launched on Dec. 17, 2013, that targeted senior government figures.

The statement added that the investigation into some public officers was continuing in Adana, with accusation that some members of the judiciary in the province have been illegally wiretapped.

On Feb. 24, reports of widespread wiretapping rocked the Turkish political scene. Thousands of people, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, national intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and a wide range of journalists, academics, business leaders and NGO representatives, have been wiretapped for years by the police as part of different probes, pro-government media outlets claimed. The reports prompted a top judicial body to open an internal investigation into the claims.