17 people were taken into custody in the course of an operation carried out against the hackers group RedHack as part of a probe into the group. RedHack announced thereupon: "None of our members was taken into custody".
RedHack hacked databases of POLNET (Police Net) and of the Ankara Police Directorate in February. This way, they obtained data related to informants, complaints and other correspondence. On 16 March, an operation was launched against RedHack. The Ankara Public Deputy Chief Prosecution that is in charge of the file gave a decision for confidentiality on the RedHack file.
17 people were reportedly taken into police custody in the course of the RedHack operation.
Public Prosecutor Mehmet Ali Ethemoğlu of the Bureau for the Investigation of Cyber Crimes decided for lack of jurisdiction on the RedHack file on 15 March. The file was then forwarded to the Special Authority Ankara Public Deputy Chief Prosecution.
"We will publish uncensored documents"
A member of RedHack told bianet that none of their members were taken into police custody and that they were on the job.
"The custodies are part of taming internet users and controlling freedom of association and sharing ideas via the internet as pursued by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the ones who are shaping it", the RedHack member said. It was the oppressed people who were actually targeted by the operation, the RedHack member argued.
In RedHack's opinion, every internet user is considered 'potentially guilty' by the government. "You would be surprised when you saw computer lessons at school! Because the only crime of the young people taken into custody is that they used the computer. The government is doing nothing else but creating offenders according to a certain crime. We are not afraid. In our next action we are going to publish a file of almost 250 MB 'uncensored' and there will be hundreds of thousands of denouncements", the RedHack member announced.
Decision for lack of jurisdiction
Prosecutor Ethemoğlu decided for "lack of jurisdiction" regarding the RedHack investigation. A vast part of the data seized by RedHack was related to "terror" investigations, Ethem reasoned his decision. The file was sent to the Ankara Public Deputy Chief Prosecution that is in charge of "terror" crimes and organized crime.
Prosecutor Ethemoğlu relied on Article 326 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK) that stipulates, "Anyone who partially or completely destroys or damages documents or records relating to the security or internal or external political interests of the state or who falsifies them, or uses them even temporarily in a place other than the place to which they have been assigned or who takes them fraudulently or steals them shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of from eight to twelve years". (SK/HK)
