Turkey’s Constitutional Court rejected an individual application by Aydın Yavuz, a civilian defendant in the TÜRKSAT case, who claimed his right to liberty and security had been violated, according to a June 20, 2017 report.
He was being tried in custody before the Ankara 14th High Criminal Court, with prosecutors seeking an aggravated life sentence.
Yavuz applied to the Constitutional Court, arguing that his pretrial detention in the investigation linked to the coup attempt was unlawful, that the length of his detention exceeded a reasonable period, that access to the investigation file had been restricted and that detention reviews had been conducted without hearings.
The Constitutional Court’s Second Section referred the application to the General Assembly, saying the nature of the case required a ruling by the full court.
The General Assembly reviewed the application and rejected Yavuz’s claim that his right to liberty and security had been violated.
The court said it would release its reasoned decision later.
Defendant denied allegations
Yavuz, a former deputy head of corporate development at the TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center, was being held at Keskin F-Type Prison.
The TÜRKSAT case involved 16 defendants, five of them civilians, accused of going to the broadcaster’s Gölbaşı facility during the coup attempt and trying to interrupt broadcasts.
Authorities said Yavuz came to Ankara on the night of the coup attempt, met other engineers and headed toward Gölbaşı to cut TÜRKSAT broadcasts but was detained on the way.
Authorities also alleged that Yavuz had used ByLock, a messaging application Turkish prosecutors treated as evidence of Gülen movement affiliation in post-coup cases.
In his defense in court, Yavuz denied the accusations, saying he had gone to Ankara for smart-home software work.
Ankara blames the coup attempt on the Gülen movement, a transnational civic initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and designates the movement as a terrorist organization. The movement denies involvement in the coup or any terrorist activity.
