Turkish court revives prosecution of former Ergenekon judges citing torture exemption

A Turkish high criminal court in Istanbul has cleared the way to bring charges against 20 former judges and prosecutors who handled the Ergenekon coup-plot cases between 2008 and 2010. By accepting that alleged illegal detention, surveillance and evidence manipulation could constitute torture, the court rejected a earlier Bakırköy decision that the statute of limitations had expired. Prosecutors claim the officials ordered wiretaps, made arrests lacking sufficient proof and introduced fabricated evidence, actions now covered by Article 94, which has no limitation period.

The ruling also sparks debate over the retroactive use of a 2013 amendment to Article 94. Among those implicated is Zekeriya Öz, the chief prosecutor at the time, who escaped Turkey via Georgia in 2015 and remains a wanted figure. Human-rights lawyer Ali Yıldız questioned whether similar reasoning will apply to other cases where courts have ignored ECtHR and Constitutional Court orders. The case revisits the controversial Ergenekon investigation that once aimed to curb military influence but later became a tool for political battles.