An Istanbul court Tuesday ordered the release of 20 of the 23 defendants in a trial against Gülenists accused of illegally wiretapping dozens of people. In the fourth hearing of the case in which 143 police officers are being tried, all defendants except former police Chiefs Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Erol Demirhan and Hayati Başdağ were released with a ban on traveling abroad.
The suspects were arrested in 2014 after an investigation revealed they were involved in tapping phone conversations of at least 57 people, including politicians, business figures and celebrities. They are accused of having links to the controversial Gülen Movement, whose offshoot, the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ), is designated as a terrorist organization.
Yılmazer, a former head of police intelligence for Istanbul, is the most known figure in the case, as he has also been accused of negligence in Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink's murder. Yılmazer and several other former police officers are accused of ignoring intelligence tips concerning a plot to kill Dink in 2007.
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