ECHR court fines Turkey in wiretapping case during Ergenekon probe

June 7, 2016 By administrator

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined Turkey 7,500 euros for violating privacy through telephone wiretaps in disciplinary proceedings against a public prosecutor during the infamous Ergenekon investigation, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The court ruled that public prosecutor Hamdi Ünal Karabeyoğlu’s “right to respect for privacy and family life” was violated in the use of information obtained by telephone wiretapping. It also ruled that his “right to effective remedy” was violated.

Karabeyoğlu had appealed to the ECHR over his case in Turkey, which was part of the Ergenekon investigation – a massive probe into hundreds of senior military personnel, journalists and politicians on charges of attempting to stage a coup against the Turkish government.

The ECHR found that Karabeyoǧlu had received “the minimum degree of protection required by the rule of law in a democratic society,” as his telephone wiretap was found to be based on reasonable suspicion and so was carried out in line with the relevant legislation.

However, the court also ruled that “the use of the information thus obtained in the context of a disciplinary investigation” was not in line with the law and that the relevant legislation was violated both when the information was used for “purposes other than the one for which it had been gathered” and when it was not “destroyed within the 15-day time limit after the criminal investigation had ended.”

Ankara court begins Erdogan wiretapping case

January 2, 2015 By administrator

An Ankara court will begin the first hearing of a case into the illegal wiretapping of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s offices on Jan. 2, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

However, five former policemen, who have been sought by police, are still on the run in the case which includes President Erdoğan.

A prosecutor had issued search warrants for the police officers involved in the probe last June. Eleven officers, including Erdoğan’s former chief bodyguard, were then detained at their homes on June 17, while a local police chief, who is suspected of planting the bug, was not detained because he was out of the country at the time.

The bugging devices, which have already been erased, were sent to the prosecutor in May and taken in by the court’s evidence unit.

Mehmet Sürer, the sought policemen’s attorney, said he had no contact with his clients and he did not know if they would be present in the court room.

The prosecutor’s indictment says the suspects had planted bugs inside three electricity plugs in the working office of Erdoğan at the Çankaya Palace, and the devices were used for political spying from Nov. 24, 2011 to Dec. 29, 2011, when they were discovered.

The indictment also questions six other bugs inside plugs in Erdoğan’s office at his residence in Ankara.

Edoğan made public on Dec. 21, 2012 that wiretapping devices had been found in his office and home, describing the move as “open espionage.

Twenty security agents arrested on wiretapping case in Turkey

October 28, 2014 By administrator

About 20 Security Directorate agents were detained Tuesday in Mersin, Turkey, on suspicion of involvement in illegal wiretapping. The list of suspects comprises 27 names of security agents, local media informs, according to Russian news agency TASS.

Special investigative measures have been taken in the course of investigation into activities of what is known as parallel structure, or shadow government.

A certain group of government authorities staff members is said to pursue a goal to undermine the work of the incumbent government. Most agents detained in Mersin are police intelligence agents.

The latest wave of arrests took place on October 21 in Ankara. The police raided places of residence of current and former Security Directorate agents. About 20 people were detained, including former intelligence unit chief Ömer Altıparmak and his Deputy Lokman Kircil, responsible for counterterrorism activities.