A top judge ordered a warrant for three police officers, still on the run, in connection with wiretapping President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for espionage while he was serving as prime minister, said judicial sources.
Ankara’s 7th High Criminal court heard how three intelligence officers discovered the bugs which had been previously installed in Erdoğan’s working offices in Ankara’s Keçiören district.
The court issued arrest warrant for three suspects -- Sedat Zavar, Serhat Demir and İlker Usta – as they have been fugitives living abroad. They will be sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison if convicted. The suspects have been indicted for crimes including political espionage, wiretapping and violation of confidentiality of communications.
PRESIDENT’S CHIEF ADVISOR TESTIFIED ON BUG DISCOVERY
“Some signals were reflected from the former prime minister’s library when searching for bugs. We discovered the signals were coming from near a console table carrying a phone. The signal was not blocked when a multi socket was turned off, but we did not have any signal after unplugging it,” said Mustafa Varank, the president’s chief advisor.
Varank was serving as advisor during President Erdoğan’s tenure in the prime minister’s office.
According to his statement, with the defense of the giant’s in mind, Erdoğan was holding his official talks in the library. He used to conduct such confidential meetings in his library, while only three or four people knew who could join in the meetings.
CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE FURTHER EXPLAINED THE BUGS’ SIGNALS
The chief of the intelligence team, Basri A., told the court a clear signal was clearly transmitted while scanning the frequency in the President’s home at that time in Keçiören’s Military Officers' neighborhood. “The team has three more counterparts. We found the device through an X-ray search and we took it to the advisor’s office for closer scrutiny,” he said.
The President’s lawyer ,Ali Özkaya, said two suspects – Sedat Zavar and Enes Çiftçi – appealed to the Turkish embassy in Serbia to obtain their wives’ passports .. He requested seizure of all their assets in Turkey and a red bulletin for their arrest.
The hearing was adjourned to March 4, after the judge in the case requested documents relating to the purchase of audio transmission devices, Loke 3 tx by Enes Çiğci, a suspect tried in the wiretapping case.
Enes Çiğçi, believed to be an operative for the U.S.-based cleric Gulen, charged with running a terror group in Turkey, purportedly went to Denmark in July 2011 to visit the factory manufacturing the bugs. “As it was impossible to take all eight bugs with him back to Turkey, he requested the devices to be delivered through the ATH Defense and Security Company which set up contact with them,” said Danel Krebs, an official from the Danish-based Cobham-Spectronic in his statement, according to the 73-page indictment appealed to the Court on Nov 18.
The judicial officials said the Justice Ministry will demand INTERPOL to issue a red bulletin for their arrest.
