No evidence found on flash drive from the US in Sinan Ateş assassination case

Müyesser YILDIZ 12punto.com.tr

An expert who examined records sent from the US regarding the phones of lawyer Serdar Öktem—who was a defendant in the assassination case of former Ülkü Ocakları President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinan Ateş and was killed in an armed attack in Istanbul on October 6—and former Ankara Murder Bureau Chief Commissioner Mustafa Ensar Aykal, which could not be opened because they did not provide the passwords, has reported that no criminal evidence was found.

In the Sinan Ateş assassination case, which was concluded by the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court on October 2, 2024, 5 defendants were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment and 5 defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison. The files of lawyer Serdar Öktem and Mustafa Ensar Aykal, who did not provide their phone passwords, were separated; while Öktem was released with this decision, Aykal remained in prison for another 4 months.

During the trial process, the phones of both individuals were sent to the US; however, Apple stated that it could not provide information regarding Serdar Öktem's phone because it was not understood what he was accused of and what exactly was being requested from them, while correspondence regarding Mustafa Ensar Aykal continued. As a result of this correspondence, a flash drive inside a sealed envelope, along with a 3-page letter, arrived from the US last August.

The Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court, which is hearing the case, opened and examined this flash drive, drew up a report stating that it contained "encrypted digital programs," and subsequently decided that the flash drive and two copies made of it should be kept in the court safe.

EXAMINED FIRST BY GENDARMERIE, THEN BY AN EXPERT

Following these developments, the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court sent all digital materials belonging to Serdar Öktem and Mustafa Ensar Aykal, which had been examined previously and were waiting in judicial custody, as well as the flash drive in question, to the Gendarmerie Criminal Department.

The Gendarmerie Criminal Department, which could not examine the phones because they lacked the passwords, categorized the other digital materials and resubmitted them to the Court.

In the second stage, the Court had all these digital materials examined by a forensic informatics expert.

In a 46-page report submitted to the Court on November 27, the expert reported that no elements constituting evidence were found during the examination of the PC, 16 portable disks, 35 USB drives, and 42 SIM cards belonging to Serdar Öktem.

The expert also could not detect any criminal elements constituting evidence in the examination of the files, images, 174 e-mail records, and 69 Apple Cloud messages contained on the flash drive sent from the US, which were entirely related to Mustafa Ensar Aykal, as well as 10 SIM cards belonging to Aykal.

News Source: 12punto