DW Report: German authorities investigate high Turkish religious official

April 1, 2017 By administrator

Prosecutors in Germany are reportedly investigating one of the highest officials of the Turkish religious authority Diyanet. The inquiry comes amid worsening relations between Berlin and Ankara.

A network of German media including the “Süddeutscher Zeitung,” NDR and WDR reported late on Friday that the head of Diyanet’s foreign relations department, Halife Keskin, allegedly called on Turkish diplomatic missions around the globe to gather information on the group of followers of controversial Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Gulen supporters are held responsible by the Turkish government for the failed coup attempt of July 2016.

According to German investigators, the material containing the request from Diyanet was handed to Karlsruhe authorities by an insider.

Keskin, the document says, also commissioned imams in Germany to investigate Gulen supporters.

List of spy targets

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed investigations for espionage a few days ago, with the spy allegations against Diyanet-commissioned imams already known.

A list of 300 names of alleged Gulen supporters and contacts was also handed over to Germany’s intelligence service by the Turkish intelligence agency MIT in February.

Included in the list were the names of Social Democrat (SPD) Bundestag deputies Michelle Müntefering, as well as Berlin city parliamentarian and member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic (CDU) party, Emine Demirbüken-Wegner.

In Saturday’s edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Müntefering criticized the German authorities’ handling of the list.

“I would have expected more sensitivity,” she said, noting that she had been informed about her name on Monday. “Parliament has a claim to know what and how this has happened,” she said.

Turkish-German relations worsening

Following the revelations, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the German government “cannot tolerate” Turkey spying on members of Germany’s parliament, adding that it is now up to federal prosecutors to determine whether this is the case.

The investigation into alleged espionage is just the latest incident to put already-strained German-Turkish ties under yet more pressure. Relations first took a turn for the worse last year when Germany officially declared the atrocities of the Ottoman Empire against Armenians in the First World War a “genocide.

Ankara also hit back at Berlin with comparisons to Nazis earlier this month after several Turkish politicians were prevented from addressing German-Turks ahead of Turkey’s April 16 referendum which would extend President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

ksb/jm (AFP, dpa)

Swiss open probe into Ankara’s spying on Turkish community

March 25, 2017 By administrator

A criminal investigation has been opened into allegations that the Ankara government has spied on expatriate Turks. Several academic events in Switzerland were reportedly filmed and photographed by unspecified agents, Deutsche Welle reports.

Swiss prosecutors said on Friday, March 24 they had “concrete suspicions [of espionage] against the Turkish community in Switzerland [by] a political intelligence service.”

The Office of the Attorney General confirmed it had opened a criminal investigation on March 16, after receiving a green light from the Swiss government.

Prosecutors, however, refused to provide details on which specific people or organizations the investigation was targeting.

The investigation follows reports that in January, two men took photos of the participants at a University of Zurich seminar discussing the 1915 Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turks, a term which the Ankara government vehemently rejects.

Local media reported that other events at the University in late 2016 and early 2017 were filmed or photographed, including one where the editor in chief of the Turkish newspaper “Cumhuriyet” was honored.

On Thursday, March 23, the Swiss foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart that his country would “rigorously investigate” any illegal spying by Ankara on expatriate Turks and urged Turkey to comply with Swiss law.

Close to 70,000 Turkish citizens live in Switzerland, according to Swiss government statistics, while the Turkish embassy’s website refers to 130,000 Turkish nationals.

Deutsche Welle. Swiss open probe into spying on its Turkish community

Switzerland warns Turkey against illegal spying

March 24, 2017 By administrator

Switzerland’s foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart on March 23 that his country would “rigorously investigate” any illegal spying by Ankara on expatriate Turks before the April 16 referendum that will decide whether the current parliamentary system should be replaced by an executive presidency.

During a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Chavusoglu, Switzerland’s Didier Burkhalter underscored Swiss concerns that Turkey may have been using its intelligence network to monitor the activities of Turkish citizens in Switzerland in the run-up to the vote, Hurriyet Daily News reports, citing a Swiss foreign ministry statement.

“Freedom of expression is a universal value recognized by Switzerland, which hopes that this freedom will also hold true for Turkish citizens whether they cast their votes in Switzerland or in their own country,” said Burkhalter, as he “underscored the validity of Swiss law on Swiss soil” and urged Turkey “to comply with it.”

The statement said Switzerland would “rigorously investigate illegal intelligence activities.”

Efforts to reach the Turkish embassy late March 23 were unsuccessful.

For weeks, Burkhalter has been trying to keep his neutral country from becoming too deeply entangled in a bitter dispute between Ankara and other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians to drum up support for a “yes” vote in the referendum among Turks living abroad.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Germany and the Netherlands of behaving like Nazis for halting some rallies by Turkish ministers, comments that both countries have called unacceptable.

While the Swiss government has been pressured by cities including Zurich to block visits by Turkish officials, Bern has refused on the grounds there was nothing to justify curbs on freedom of speech.

Çavuşoğlu had been scheduled to visit Switzerland for an event earlier this month, but that was canceled for lack of a venue.

During the visit on March 23, Burkhalter also told Çavuşoğlu that he was aware of Turkey’s “difficult situation” following the July 2016 failed coup attempt, the Swiss statement said.

Still, Burkhalter remained concerned about mass dismissals and arrests of people Ankara has linked to U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who is widely believed to have been behind the thwarted coup.

“The declaration of a state of emergency does not exempt Turkey from its international human rights obligations,” the statement said, adding Burkhalter “stressed the importance of freedom of expression and the freedom to speak out for democracy.”

Swiss government statistics show 68,000 Turkish citizens live in Switzerland. The Turkish embassy’s website refers to 130,000 Turkish citizens.

Turkey has stepped up spying in Germany, says Berlin

March 8, 2017 By administrator

Amid ongoing diplomatic unrest, German intelligence has reported an increase in Turkish spying in Germany. Turkey’s Foreign Minister meanwhile has said Berlin “must decide whether Germany is a friend or not.”

While tensions between Berlin and Ankara have escalated ahead of next month’s referendum on Turkey’s presidency, the German government said on Wednesday that there has been a significant increase in Turkish spying in Germany.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, said divisions in Turkey leading up to the controversial April 16 referendum on boosting the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were mirrored in Germany.

“The BfV is observing a significant increase in intelligence efforts by Turkey in Germany,” it said in a statement. No further details were provided.

Called referendum rallies

Already strained relations between Germany and Turkey reached a new low this month in a row over canceled Turkish political rallies to drum up support for the impending referendum.

Some 1.4 million Turks living in Germany are eligible to cast their ballot in the vote.

Hoping to calm the storm on Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel met with his Turkish counterpart Melvut Cavusoglu in Berlin. While both diplomats agreed on the importance of good relations, Cavusoglu said that Germany must now “decide whether Turkey is a friend or not.”

More talks in the pipeline

In light of recent comments from both Cavusoglu and Erdogan, Gabriel also made it clear that in maintaining good relations “there are lines that should not be crossed.”

“…And one of those is the comparison with Nazi Germany,” Gabriel said.

Cavusoglu, meanwhile, said he would host Gabriel for a new round of talks in Turkey “as soon as possible.”

In a bid to secure support ahead of next month’s referendum, Erdogan himself is also due to hold a rally in Germany. Critics have warned, however that the proposed presidential system which seeks to expand Erdogan’s powers as president would cement a one-man rule in the country.

Concerns over right-wing Turks and PKK

Fuelled by concerns over tensions between right-wing Turks in Germany and supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Bfv President Hans-Georg Maassen launched an investigation in January into possible spying by clerics sent to Germany by Ankara.

“There is the danger that these proxy fights between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) supporters and nationalist, right-wing extremist Turks will escalate because there is a high, hard-hitting potential for danger in both groups,” Maassen said.

Although not specifically addressing the issue of Turkish spying, Maassen told reporters in January that Germany would not tolerate Turkish intelligence operations within its borders.

#FreeDeniz

Echoing Maassen on Wednesday, Gabriel said following his meeting with Cavusoglu that Turkey’s internal fights should not be imported into Germany.

Berlin has had its own fight to deal with in recent weeks, however, following the arrest of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel.

Yucel, a journalist for the German newspaper “Die Welt,” was arrested last month over allegations of terrorism propaganda, making him the first German reporter to be detained in Turkey as part of Erdogan’s wide-ranging crackdown on press freedom.

The 43-year-old, who has penned several articles critical of the Turkish government’s treatment of ethnic Kurds, has been in jail pending trial ever since, with Erdogan labeling him a “German agent.”

ksb/jm (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

Turkey urges expats in Germany to spy for Erdogan: Report

February 24, 2017 By administrator

Turkey’s government has reportedly asked teachers and parents of Turkish origin in Germany to collect information on any criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in German schools.

The Turkish consulate in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany has been holding meetings, named “information events,” during which it told the Turkish attendees that their children should film their teachers at classes, the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) reported.

The report cited the Union for Education and Science (GEW) as saying that parents and teachers of Turkish origin have been asked to report any critical comments about the Turkish government.

“We have heard from various different sources that people were told to report every piece of criticism of Turkey, which had been heard at schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, to the consulate,” said GEW spokesman Sebastian Krebs.

“The consulate also encouraged parents to tell their children to film teachers and pass on the evidence to Turkish authorities,” he added.

Teachers at the meeting in Dusseldorf, the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, refused to comply with the demand to spy on their schools, Krebs noted.

The Turkish consulate has not provided any comment with regard to the accusations, but Germany’s state security has launched a probe into the incident.

The accusations come on top of the reports in early February that imams from the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (Ditib) in Germany spied on Turkish followers of self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan has accused of plotting an attempted coup in Turkey last July.

Also on February 14, senior Austrian opposition lawmaker Peter Pilz accused Turkey of running an informer network via its embassy in Vienna aimed at targeting the critics of Erdogan and promoting his policies.

Pilz said he had sent documents regarding the activities of the network, run by the umbrella group ATIB, to the police.

The ATIB is headed by the religious attaché at Turkey’s embassy, Fatih Mehmet Karadas, and oversees the activities of dozens of mosques across Austria.

Pilz noted that the Turkish government sends imams to work for the ATIB to collect information in particular about followers of Gulen.

Gulen denies any involvement in the abortive coup, which claimed the lives of at least 240 people. However, the Turkish government has arrested tens of thousands of people over suspected ties with the US-based cleric.

The umbrella organization also monitors Turkish Kurds, Turkish opposition politicians and journalists in Austria, Pilz added.

Romania arrests Israeli firm workers for spying on top prosecutor

April 6, 2016 By administrator

Laura Codruta Kovesi, Romania’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor ©AP

Romania has arrested two employees of an Israeli intelligence company on charges of spying on and trying to intimidate the country’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, officials say.

“An investigation has been launched and two people have been arrested,” Mihaela Porime, a spokeswoman for the anti-crime and terrorist prosecutors’ office, said on Wednesday, adding that the suspects work for the Israeli private intelligence agency, Black Cube.

The firm reportedly has several former operatives of Israel’s Mossad spy agency on its payroll.

The pair were identified as Belgian David Geclowitz and Israeli-born Ron Weiner, who holds a French passport.

They are suspected of hacking the emails of people close to Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief prosecutor of Romania’s National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA), and of threatening and harassing her family members.

The arrest warrant said the two had in March set up a “criminal group … aimed at sullying Kovesi’s image.”

According to Romanian judicial sources, the two are believed to have been employed by a client being investigated by the DNA.

Meanwhile, Kovesi confirmed that the detentions were “linked to a failed intimidation bid.”

Kovesi, who was appointed last month for a second term as Romania’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, is known for her tough approach to high-level graft.

Her agency prosecuted some 1,250 cases only in 2015, with targets including a former premier and five ex-ministers.

US accuses Israel of spying on nuclear talks with Iran

March 24, 2015 By administrator

Israel denies Wall Street Journal reports that it shared confidential information from talks with members of the US Congress in attempt to derail any deal

The US has accused Israel of spying on international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and using the intelligence gathered to persuade Congress to undermine the talks, according to a report on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal cited senior administration officials as saying the Israeli espionage operation began soon after the US opened up a secret channel of communications with Tehran in 2012, aimed at resolving the decade-long standoff over Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

The apparent decision by the White House to leak the allegations is the latest symptom of the growing gulf between Barack Obama’s administration and Binyamin Netanyahu’s government over the Iran talks, in which the Israeli leader suspects US officials of being ready to make too many concessions at the expense of Israeli security. Intelligence analysts suggested that the leak reflects the degree of anger in Washington at Netanyahu’s actions, and could mark a more serious blow to the already tottering relationship.

The leak has come exactly a week before a deadline for the US-Iranian negotiations in Lausanne to produce a framework agreement.

According to the report, the US has long been aware that Israel is among the shortlist of countries with the most aggressive intelligence operations targeting America, alongside Russia, China and France. It said American diplomats attending the talks in Austria and Switzerland were briefed by US counterintelligence officials about the threat of Israeli eavesdropping. It also raised the possibility that Israel gathered intelligence about the US position by spying on other participants in the negotiations, from western Europe, Russia, China or Iran. US intelligence had previously provided help to the Israelis to spy on the Iranians, the report said.

The US also conducts intelligence operations against Israel, and learned of the Israeli spying operation when it intercepted communication between Israeli officials exchanging classified information that US intelligence believed could only have been acquired by espionage.

“It is one thing for the US and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal US secrets and play them back to US legislators to undermine US diplomacy,” the Wall Street Journal quoted a senior US official as saying.

Israel has categorically denied the allegations that it spied on closed-door nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US, however it did not deny that such information had been obtained.

“I think the report is wrong, it is inaccurate,” the outgoing Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, told the country’s Army Radio on Tuesday morning. “The State of Israel obviously has various security interests and we have excellent intelligence services, but we are not engaged in espionage against the United States.” He did not, however, deny information was obtained. Lieberman said: “All the information we gathered was from another entity, not the US.” He added: “We reached a decision a long time ago not to spy on the US and I haven’t come across anyone who has violated that instruction in several decades.”

Ronen Bergman, an expert on the country’s intelligence agencies at the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, said: “Whatever you think of Netanyahu’s position on the Iran talks, if he thinks that Israel’s national security is at stake, he has the right to order the intelligence community to find out what is happening.”

But Bergman – whose book, A History of the Israeli Mossad, will be published next year – added: “What worries me and what should be of high concern to the leaders of Israel is that this is ample proof that the relations at large between the US and Israel are sustaining an earthquake. The fact that it is happening is less worrying than that it was leaked. Also, any intervention by Israel in the inner working of American politics is wrong. If this report is true and Netanyahu’s intervention used intelligence material, then it is just making it worse.”

Yuval Steinitz, the strategic affairs minister and close Netanyahu aide, told Israel’s Channel 2 that the reports were “intended to damage the strong ties between the US and Israel, despite our differences on the Iran issue”.

ANKARA: Major spying case uncovers crook in Turkey’s top science body

January 23, 2015 By administrator

Nuray Babacan / ANKARA

Hasan Başaran, a relative of former Science, Technology and Industry Minister Nihat Ergün, was employed in July 2012 at TÜBİTAK although he did not have a diploma. Within four months, Başaran was promoted to become the manager of TÜBİTAK’s Public Certification Center with a monthly salary of 7,000 Turkish Liras.

An alleged fraudster with familial links to Turkey’s former science minister has been exposed as part of a probe into a spying case that encompasses wiretapping then-Prime Minister President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other top-ranking state officials. Report Hurriyet daily news

The arrests at the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) showed that Hasan Başaran, a relative of former Science, Technology and Industry Minister Nihat Ergün, was employed at the country’s top science body although he did not have a diploma.

Başaran, who is married to Ergün’s niece, shocked the whole family, according to the former minister who also supervised TÜBİTAK, speaking to Hürriyet.

The family used to think that Başaran was a Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) graduate, and only learned about the fraud when he was detained two days ago, Ergün said, highlighting that he had no role in finding the figure employment at TÜBİTAK.

“I am the relative of a person who is victimized,” he said, in reference to his niece, the seven-year wife of Başaran who was unaware of the fraud. “The family is now facing a great trauma.”

Başaran introduced himself to TÜBİTAK as a cryptology specialist, the former minister added.

The suspect also enjoyed shorter compulsory military service thanks to a fake diploma from the prestigious university.

The family does not know about his links to U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, the leader of what Erdoğan calls the “parallel structure,” Ergün said.

Erdoğan accuses Gülenists for illegal wiretappings and a “coup attempt,” starting from the revelation of a large corruption investigation in December 2013.

Başaran reportedly said in his testimony that he produced the diploma in a photography manipulation program and developed himself in cryptology in order to not arouse suspicion.

More arrests in espionage probe

Meanwhile, four of 11 suspects were arrested on Jan. 22 as part of the espionage investigation.

The Gölbaşı Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara demanded that 28 people be detained as part of the probe into the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) and TÜBİTAK.

Fifteen of the 26 suspects were released by the prosecutor after questioning, while 11 suspects were sent to court. The court arrested four of the 11 suspects, including Osman Nihat Şen, the former deputy head of the TİB, who was detained on Jan. 21 in front of the court where he had arrived with lawyers to testify.

The suspects face charges including “spying,” “destroying the unity of the state,” and “wiretapping both crypto-secure and regular telephones.”

Five of the 26 suspects were released on probation, while two others were released after further questioning.

Hasan Palaz, the former vice president of TÜBİTAK, who was released on probation, spoke to the media while leaving the courthouse, saying they had been detained “without any concrete evidence,” and were being asked to prove that they are innocent.

“There is no evidence, but they are asking [us] to prove that we are not guilty. First the prosecutor did it and then the judge,” he said, adding that he would appeal the probation ruling.

Three of the wiretapped crypto-secure phones belonged to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and one of these was likely used by his son Bilal Erdoğan.

Speaking on Jan. 21, President Erdoğan said he knew that he had been wiretapped on a number of occasions when he was prime minister. “This is an issue that I have been talking about for the past two years,” he told reporters.

January/23/2015

Israeli Drone Caught Spying on Iran ‘Took Off from Nakhijevan’

September 17, 2014 By administrator

NAKHIJEVAN, Azerbaijan—An Israeli spy drone which Iran recently downed on its way to one of the Iranian nuclear site had taken off from an air base in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan (Nakhijevan) exclave, sources say.

The anonymous sources said the Hermes drone, which was taken down by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces on Aug. 23 after 300 kilometers of flight, was bound for the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran.

The revelation about the Israeli drone’s launch site indicates Baku’s involvement in the spying mission, the unnamed sources claimed.

The stealth spy drone was targeted by a surface-to-air missile before it reached the strategic location.

Iran’s nuclear facilities have been a regular target for espionage activities by US and Israeli intelligence services, which have at times used drones for this purpose.

Azeri officials continue to claim that they will never allow their country to be used as a launch pad against Iran, but the Baku government has been serving the Israeli government’s interests in the region.

Israel’s strategic Haifa port receives nearly 40 percent of its oil needs from the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline cutting across Azerbaijan.

In another sign of Azerbaijan’s hostility against the Islamic Republic, a separatist cell calling itself “World Azerbaijanis Congress” recently held an anti-Iran forum in Baku.

The World Azerbaijanis Congress, which was founded in the United States in 1997, seeks the separation of Iran’s northwestern provinces of East and West Azerbaijan and their unification with the neighboring Republic of Azerbaijan.

Azeri Journalist Jailed For ‘Spying For Armenia’

April 21, 2014 By administrator

BAKU (RFE/RL)—A prominent Azerbaijani journalist and political analyst has been deported from Turkey and arrested in Azerbaijan on charges of high treason reportedly stemming from his repeated trips to Armenia.

Rauf Mirkadyrov, a veteran columnist for the Baku-based newspaper “Zerkalo,” was put on a plane in Ankara at the weekend and flown to Baku, where was immediately detained by officers of the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry. Mirkadyrov’s lawyer told Azerbaijani media afterwards that his client has been charged with espionage.

Mirkadyrov was formally remanded in pre-trial custody on Monday. In a statement cited by local news agencies, Azerbaijan’s Office of the Prosecutor-General claimed that Mirkadyrov was recruited by Armenian intelligence agents in 2008. It said he repeatedly met with them in Armenia, Georgia and Turkey in the following years to pass on “information about the political, social and military situation” in Azerbaijan that included state secrets.

“We are also told that he has visited Armenia and held a number of meetings there without the knowledge of official representatives of Azerbaijan’s government,” the APA news agency reported earlier in the day.

“Zerkalo” scoffed at the espionage accusation. “Any honest Azerbaijani journalist can only work for them [Armenians,]” the Russian-language independent paper commented sarcastically on its website.

“Armenia occupied about 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory and the war between the two states is still not over. Therefore, negotiations can only be conducted by the two heads of state,” Elchin Behbudov of the Azerbaijani Committee Against Torture was quoted by APA as saying in connection with the high-profile case.

Mirkadyrov’s analytical articles written for “Zerkalo” on an almost daily basis have generally focused on the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and broader regional geopolitics. Since late 1990s he has repeatedly visited Armenia for regional or Armenian-Azerbaijani forums sponsored by Western governments and private institutions. His most recent trip to Yerevan took place in December.

The Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD), a Baku-based non-governmental organization that has long organized meetings with Armenian civil society members, condemned Mirkadyrov’s arrest, saying that it heralds a government ban on people-to-people contacts with Azerbaijan’s arch-foe.

“After President Ilham Aliyev came to power [in 2003] the conduct in Azerbaijan of conferences organized by NGOs with the participation of invited colleagues from Armenia became impossible,” the IPD director, Leyla Yunus, said in a statement posted on the contact.az news portal. “For the past 10 years such joint meetings have been possible only outside Azerbaijan and in Armenia in particular.”

Yunus argued that such Western-backed contacts are important for a resolution of the Karabakh conflict in the absence of progress in the long-running peace talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments. She cited recent statements to that effect made by James Warlick, the U.S. mediator in the Karabakh peace process. Mirkadyrov’s arrest will preclude “further visits by Azerbaijani civil society activists to Armenia,” added Yunus.

The Azerbaijani authorities reportedly attempted to officially ban any contact with Armenians not sanctioned by them with a bill that was submitted to parliament a year ago. The proposed legislation was dropped following a domestic and international uproar.

Mirkadyrov has lived in Turkey with his family for the past three years. He is said to have told a colleague shortly before his arrest that he got in trouble with the Turkish authorities immediately after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s April 7 visit to Baku.

Another Azerbaijani journalist, Mahir Zeynalov, was deported from Turkey in February. He blamed the expulsion on his criticism of Erdogan’s government.

According to the New York-based Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ), at least eight Azerbaijani reporters were in jail in relation to their work prior to Mirkadyrov’s arrest. One of them, Tofiq Yaqublu, was sentenced to five years in prison last month for “organizing mass disturbances” in January 2013. The CPJ condemned the verdict as baseless and politically motivated.