Ex-police chief Hanefi Avcı sentenced to 15 years

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Former Chief of Police Hanefi Avcı, leaving a prison transport vehicle, has been sentenced to prison for 15 years.

Former Eskişehir Chief of Police Hanefi Avcı has been sentenced to prison for 15 years and fined 10,000 Turkish liras in the Revolutionary Headquarters case.

Istanbul’s 9th High Criminal Court sentenced Avcı to a total of 15 years, 4 months and 5 days and fined him 10,000 liras in the Revolutionary Headquarters case July 19.

Avcı was imprisoned and fined on charges of helping members of the illegal Revolutionary Headquarters terrorist organization, carrying unlicensed automatic and semi-automatic guns, influencing judicial officials carrying out the investigation and judicial process on terror organizations through his book, “Haliç’te Yaşayan Simonlar: Dün Devlet Bugün Cemaat” (Devoted Residents of the Haliç: Yesterday State, Today Religious Community), and breaching the confidentiality of the Revolutionary Headquarters probe in the same book. The court also ruled that a criminal complaint be issued against Avcı for forgery of official documents. He was arrested on the charge of violating the secrecy of an investigation, following the publication of his book, which alleges that the religious Gülen community covertly took control of the state.

Avcı is being held in Istanbul’s Silivri Prison, not only because of the Revolutionary Headquarters case but also because of the OdaTV trials, which are about the online news portal OdaTV known for its harsh criticism of government policies and alleged to be part of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation into an alleged ultranationalist gang accused of plotting to overthrow the government by fomenting chaos in society.