13.04.2025 16:01
The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the prison sentences given to retired soldiers Çetin Doğan, İhsan Balabanlı, Behzat Balta, Mehmet Kaya Varol, Erdal Akyazan, and Emin Küçükkılıç in the Sledgehammer Plan Case.
After the Supreme Court's previous decision to overturn, a prison sentence was given to 6 retired soldiers who were retried at the Istanbul Anadolu 4th Heavy Criminal Court.
The Istanbul Anadolu 4th Heavy Criminal Court sentenced the defendant Çetin Doğan to 8 years in prison for the crime of "agreement for the crime," reducing the sentence to 6 years and 8 months. The court sentenced the defendant Behzat Balta to 5 years and 10 months for the same crime, and Mehmet Kaya Varol and İhsan Balabanlı to 5 years and 5 months each, while Erdal Akyazan and Emin Küçükkılıç were sentenced to 5 years in prison. The court decided to dismiss the case against the deceased Metin Yavuz Yalçın.
THE CONVICTION DECISION FOR 6 DEFENDANTS WAS UPHELD
The Supreme Court 3rd Criminal Chamber upheld the conviction decision of the Istanbul Anadolu 4th Heavy Criminal Court regarding the 6 defendants. The decision of the Chamber was uploaded to UYAP after the completion of their signatures.
In the Chamber's justification, it was noted that, as stated in the previous grounds for overturning, the actions of the defendants were evaluated within the scope of preparatory actions that did not reach the stage of attempt concerning the target crimes, and it was concluded that the actions of the defendants constituted the crime defined in Article 316 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237.