Turkey’s Court of Cassation rules to reduce sentence against NASA scientist Gölge

Heather Nauert, US State Department’s spokesperson, announced on Thursday that Turkey’s Court of Cassation ruled to reduce the sentence against Dr. Serkan Gölge, a NASA scientist who was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison in February due to his alleged links to the Gülen movement.

“We welcome the Turkish Court of Appeals’ decision to reduce the sentence against Dr. Serkan Gölge,” said Nauert and added that “That said, we continue to believe that the case against Dr. Gölge lacks credible evidence and that he should be freed immediately to be reunited with his family. We will continue to follow D. Gölge’s case closely, along with other unjust prosecutions against US citizens and our own locally employed staff at Mission Turkey.”

A dual citizen of the US and Turkey, Gölge, 38, was detained as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, on July 23, 2016. He was arrested after being kept in police custody for 14 days.

In February a Turkish court in Hatay province handed down a prison sentence of seven years, six months on charges of membership in a “terrorist” organization.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey have been the subject of legal proceedings in the last two years on charges of membership in the Gülen movement since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, a Turkish Justice Ministry official told a symposium on July 19, 2018.

“Legal proceedings have been carried out against 445,000 members of this organization,” Turkey’s pro-government Islamist news agency İLKHA quoted Turkish Justice Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ömer Faruk Aydıner as saying.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016, that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed about 170,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15, 2016. On December 13, 2017, the Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on April 18, 2018, that the Turkish government had jailed 77,081 people between July 15, 2016, and April 11, 2018, over alleged links to the Gülen movement.

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from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkeys-court-of-cassation-rules-to-reduce-sentence-against-nasa-scientist-golge/