Ex-police intelligence chief 'fabricated evidence by replacing DVD with CD'

Drawing: Murat Başol

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"The fact that this CD for which there is concrete evidence that it has been included within the digital [evidence] group later does not pair up with the hard discs which are allegedly the originals of the documents is the most direct proof that fake evidence was fabricated."

The case in which 18 lawyers from Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) and People's Law Bureau (HHB) are standing trial is being heard at the campus of the Silivri Prison in İstanbul. Current hearing will continue until November 11. 

Defenders of the lawyers who are standing trial have presented their petition in the hearing today (November 7) to the 18th Heavy Penal Court of İstanbul on the "Examination Report on the Forensic Medicine Institute Report on the Digital Materials named Netherlands Belgium Documents."

Expert examination was made on the documents presented as evidence against the ÇHD lawyers after the request of ÇHD Chair Selçuk Kozağaçlı. The expert had stated that this digital material which the lawsuit is based on "cannot be accepted as legal evidence or regarded as basis of judgement."

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The court has however neglected two reports prepared by experts who are specialists in their field and accepted as experts by the judiciary.

The petition submitted to the court today is evaluating the report prepared by the Forensic Medicine Institution (ATK) on this material and the process of delivery of the digital material group which is the subject of the report to the Property and Evidence Unit of judiciary in Istanbul.

ATK: Document does not pair up with originals

There are 6 folders named Netherlands Belgium Documents in the file number 2014/117 E. of the İstanbul 18^th Heavy Penal Court. The content of these have not been examined by the court until this year, and not submitted to the suspects or their lawyers.

With the decision of the court at the beginning of this year the 6 Hard discs, 3 DVD's and 2 CD's registered at the İstanbul Judiciary Property and Evidence Unit with serial number 2007/55 were sent to the Forensic Medicine Institution. The Forensic Medicine Institution prepared a report dated June 23, 2022.

The Forensic Medicine Institution concluded in its report that no information could be accessed in the 3 DVD's that are subject of examination, that "the CD including audio files and the Imation brand CD including document indexing program were checked against the 6 hard discs which are said to be the originals of the documents and that there was no pairing up."

1 DVD "lost", 3 DVD's "empty"

In the petition submitted to the court it was stated that although the Netherlands authorities has sent the information that was the subject of the Request for Legal Assistance in one DVD only and although Netherlands National Prosecution Authority has indicated that the information that can be used as evidence is the content of this DVC, Ramazan Akyürek, former chairperson of Chamber of Intelligence has sent the prosecution 6 hard discs, 4 DVD's and 1 CD.

Objections to the documents were listed in the petition as follows:

1 DVD was taken out, 1 CD was added: After the prosecution requested from Chamber of Intelligence to submit them the DVC they have received from Netherlands, a digital material group consisting of 6 hard discs, 4 DVD's and 1 CD prepared by Ramazan Akyürek, chairperson of Chamber of Intelligence was sent to prosecution. But this digital material group ended up including 6 hard discs, 3 DVD's and 2 CD's when it reached the prosecution office. So 1 DVD was lost and 1 CD was included instead to the digital material group sent. Within this last group which was registered in the Property and Evidence Unit, the only material without any inscription on was the Imation brand CD with serial number 5258102MC17516 .

Chairperson of the Chamber of Intelligence of the period and suspect in Dink law case, Ramazan Akyürek stood trial in the law case against former Chiefs of Police with accusations including "forgery of official documents" and was sentenced to 45 years.

Pairing of hard disks not examined: 18^th Heavy Penal Court of İstanbul sent this digital material group taken from the Property and Evidence Unit of the prosecution office to the Forensic Medicine Institution on February 2, 2022. The Forensic Medicine Institution used keyword scanning method for determining if there is pairing up between the photocopy documents that are in the court file and the digital files. The report prepared did not determine any pairing up between the physical files and the hard disks.

3 DVD's were "empty": It was determined that the 3 DVD's examined by the Forensic Medicine Institution did not include any data.

No pairing up identified with original document: The source of the only partial pairing up in the Forensic Medicine Institution report is the Imation brand CD with serial number 5258102MC17516 without any inscription on. The Forensic Medicine Institution has compared the documents in this CD with the 6 hard disks that are claimed to be the originals of the Netherlands Belgium documents and could not identify any pairing up.

"CD included within the digitals afterwards"

In the petition it was stated that such inconsistencies in relation to the digital materials submitted as evidence disclosed "fake evidence fabrication activity."

"The fact that this CD for which there is concrete evidence that it has been included within the digital [ evidence] group later does not pair up with the hard discs which are allegedly the originals of the documents is the most direct proof that fake evidence was fabricated.

"The only conclusion that can be drawn at this stage is that the photocopies of correspondences in the case file on which the accusations are made have been obtained not from the hard disks which are said to be the originals of the documents, but from a CD which has been placed within the digital material group in a suspicious manner."

"Evaluation of evidence" requested from Court

In the petition it was stated that if the court avoided evaluating forgery of evidence, this would mean "hiding activity of fake evidence fabrication" and that it would constitute the crime of "neglect of duty" and an examination was requested:

"The is necessary that the manufacturing date of the Imation brand CD with serial number 5258102MC17516 without any inscription on which is subject of partial pairing up, whether or not it is image, and if it is what the image forming date is and also the dates of production of the documents it includes should be determined. If the CD is not an image or if it is and the dates the documents inside are produced are later than the operation date, forgery of evidence will have been proven once again technically.

(AS/PE/VK)