The Mardin 3rd High Criminal Court on Friday rejected the release demand for Hamza Uluçay, an employee of the US Consulate Adana in southern Turkey who is accused of membership of a terrorist organization, pro-government Demirören news agency (DHA) reported.
Uluçay has not appeared at the court, instead, he attended the hearing on Friday from prison via a remote audio-visual link. In his defense, Uluçay denied any links to terrorist organizations and demanded his release and acquittal. The court rejected the demand.
The indictment about Uluçay stated that the police had received reports that Uluçay and lawyer Hüseyin Cangir were linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which waged a four-decade insurgency in Turkey.
Hamza Uluçay had been working as a translator at the US Consulate in Adana for 36 years. He was first detained on Feb. 23, 2017. He was then referred to a local court in Mardin for arrest but released on probation on March 7, 2017. He was detained for the second time following the prosecutor’s objection to his release.
The prosecutor has requested a prison sentence of between 7 and-a-half and 15 years for both Uluçay and Cangir for membership of a terrorist organization.
On Friday, a Turkish court has decided to sentence American pastor Andrew Brunson to more than three years in prison on terrorism charges but ruled he had already served his sentence after two years in detention and lifted his travel ban.
The United States has been imposing sanctions on Turkey after US Consulate employees and American citizens, notably pastor Brunson, have been imprisoned in the country following the failed coup attempt in 2016. (Ahval)
The post Turkish court rejects release of US Consulate employee Uluçay appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.
from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-court-rejects-release-of-us-consulate-employee-ulucay/
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