İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court in Turkey has declared exiled journalist Can Dündar a fugitive and ruled for the seizure of his assets. The court had ordered Dündar on 17 September to declare himself and turn up within 15 days. Dündar lives in Germany and did not attend the court. After the period expired, the court issued the seizure order.
Both Dündar’s bank accounts and properties in Istanbul, Ankara and the southern Muğla province will be seized. Dündar published a message from his social media account regarding the decision of the court.
Dündar stated: “The real home is one’s ‘country’. We, 82 million citizens, are about to lose that home in darkness. Now, this is more important than any home”.
İnsanın asıl “ev”i yurdudur.
Biz 82 milyon yurttaş, asıl o büyük evi karanlıkta kaybetmek üzereyiz.
Şu anda her evden daha önemli bu… https://t.co/I31eZ8QH7F— Can Dündar (@candundaradasi) October 7, 2020
Background information
On 29 May 2015, an article entitled ‘Here are the weapons Erdoğan said do not exist’ was published in Cumhuriyet daily. Can Dündar was the Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper at the time. The article detailed alleged arms shipments that had been made to Syria by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT). After the news was published, an investigation was launched against Dündar. He was charged with ‘obtaining information about the security of the state’,‘espionage’, and ‘propagandizing for a terrorist organization’. The case has been called the ‘MIT Trucks Case’.
Dündar was sentenced to five years and ten months imprisonment. However, Turkey’s Court of Cassation overturned the sentence on the charge of “disclosing confidential information of the state” on 9 March 2018. The trial recommenced at the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court on 2 April 2019 and the court requested that a ‘red notice’ be issued against Dündar.
