Bora Kaplan: 'Found phone is a setup by prosecutors and police'

12punto.com.tr Müyesser YILDIZ

Bora Kaplan, who is being retried following the partial reversal decision by the appellate court, claimed that the found phone submitted as new evidence in the file was a setup by the police officers who conducted the operation against him and the investigating prosecutor, stating, "Allow me, and I will have a phone made and bring it in. I believe it will make headlines in the news and for journalists." Alleging that there are hundreds of pieces of evidence of criminal activity in the WhatsApp correspondence between the police officers themselves, as well as with the prosecutor and judge, Kaplan stated that they should also be prosecuted and that he wants to intervene in that case.

In the Ayhan Bora Kaplan criminal organization case, which involves 76 defendants and is being reheard by the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court at the Sincan Prison Campus, Bora Kaplan, who was sentenced to 68 years in prison on charges of being the organization's leader, continued his defense, which he began on Tuesday. Kaplan concluded his defense regarding the main case as follows:

"The former presiding judge did not listen to us at all because he had already made the decision about us. When his friends, the police officers, were arrested, he became even more vindictive against us. For God's sake, do not take into account the indictment of Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya and the reasoned decision of the former President Mehmet Güven. Please, listen to Ü5, who withdrew from being a secret witness, even if it is in secret from us. If we pressured him to withdraw his statement, then take action against us. Give this file to two law students after changing the names, and I swear there will be no conviction."

'IF I KNEW I WOULD BE SAVED, I WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE 100 THOUSAND DOLLARS'

Kaplan then began his defense regarding the found phone, which was hung on the door of the office of the lawyer for former Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) Branch Deputy Director Şevket Demircan, one of the police officers who conducted the operation. He alleged that the police are currently only being tried for misconduct, forgery of official documents, and influencing a witness, whereas hundreds of pieces of criminal evidence have emerged from the WhatsApp correspondence. After requesting that all of these correspondences be read in court and that additional defenses be taken from them regarding these crimes, he said the following:

"A report came stating that no manipulation could be detected in the two phones created by Attorney Duran Göçer, the lawyer for defendant Önder Polat. If I were to have that phone made, I could have one ten times better, with WhatsApp messages from the 1970s, and no manipulation would be found. They are going to slander, and God will trip them up; they have been very careless. Look, they could not reach the metadata of the found phone. I know these things from Mustafa Öztaş, whose fingerprints were found on that found phone. In my first defense in 2023, I said that fake messages could be created. I knew that the architect was Mustafa Öztaş. I could have found someone to do it cheaper. If I knew I could be saved, I would have given that 100 thousand dollars, but it would not have been of any use to me, so I did not accept it. Mr. President, if you allow me, I will have a phone made and bring it in; I believe it will make headlines in the news and for journalists."

Giving examples of the anomalies in the found phone, Kaplan emphasized that these alone reveal that the phone is a fabrication and fake, and continued:

"This file made me an expert witness, a legal scholar, and a cryptology expert. I swear, I swear, I swear, it is trash. You must immediately file a criminal complaint against Mustafa Öztaş. It is clear what he did. And release me from this file immediately; I am already detained for the other one. How can they dare to do this much? They are going to pin the crime on someone else. The fact that cybercrimes could not find manipulation does not mean it was not done. Because whatever program they use for examination, those who commit this forgery already know that the program will not find it. Thank God, this fake bag phone is trash. Think about it, Attorney Duran Göçer created the fake phone in court, but they could not find any forgery. Since it has been revealed that the fake evidence is suspicious, it cannot be used as a basis for a verdict. They set up a setup from beginning to end, and the prosecutor is also involved. Therefore, the indictment regarding the phone is null and void. By being accused of a scandal of a crime never before seen in legal history, they wanted to pin the crimes committed by the police on me. The prosecutor wanted to save the police with this indictment. In that case, the prosecutor who prepared the indictment regarding the police and the judges who tried them should also be tried in this file. Because they were also accused of being members of this so-called organization. They put such immoral, indecent messages in the correspondence on the found phone that it makes me sick; they have gone that far off the rails. They are attacking Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Veysel Kaçmaz, who is responsible for terrorism. The word 'allegedly' appears a lot in those correspondences. I noticed that no one uses it as much as Murat Çelik. The prosecutor tried to write to the USA via UYAP, 'allegedly' to investigate. As if he is writing to Kırıkkale. Then, saying 'it didn't work,' he informs the Ministry of Justice. While he writes letters rogatory in all his other requests, he tries to write via UYAP in this one. If that is the case; handle the correspondence first, then conduct the operation. He makes the person whose fingerprints were found on the phone a witness. The man took the sword in his hand and slaughtered us. It is impossible not to go crazy."

While drawing attention to the fact that the complaint petition given by the police after they found the phone in the bag was directly referred to Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya, he said, "Since when are insult and threat crimes sent to the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Prosecutor's Office? This is also proof that the so-called complainant police officers and the prosecutor are acting together."

Kaplan reminded that the police kept a report stating that they found the phone themselves, but that the law office secretary U. D. said in her testimony in court that she found the phone, and asked the questions, "If the report is fake, isn't this a crime? Is it normal that U. D.'s fingerprints were not found on the bag?" and demanded that these contradictions be resolved.

News Source: 12punto