22.04.2025 15:50
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç denied the allegations that Abdullah Önen, a convicted member of Hezbollah, was transferred to an open prison after writing a letter to President Erdoğan. Minister Tunç stated that the transfer was carried out in accordance with legal regulations and announced that a judicial investigation had been initiated against the person who reported the news for spreading misleading information to the public.
It was claimed that Abdullah Önen, who was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for managing a Hezbollah cell in Batman, wrote a letter to President Erdoğan after his application to the Constitutional Court for a retrial was rejected, and was subsequently transferred to an open prison.
MINISTER TUNÇ: HIS SENTENCE IS STILL BEING SERVED
Following this bombshell claim, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç made a statement, expressing that the allegations do not reflect the truth. In a statement on his social media account, Minister Tunç said, "The conditions for prisoners to transition from closed prisons to open prisons are carried out in accordance with Article 89 of the Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures and Articles 16/1 and 16/2 of the Regulation on the Observation and Classification Centers and the Evaluation of Prisoners. The mentioned prisoner entered the closed prison on 18.07.1997 for the execution of his conviction and has served 27 years and 4 months in the closed prison, and the execution of the relevant prisoner’s sentence continues in the open prison."
"THE LETTER ALLEGATIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE TRUTH"
Continuing his statement, Minister Tunç said, "The prison sentence execution process of the prisoner is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the current legislation and within the framework of the procedures applied to all other prisoners." He added, "The allegations that he was transferred to an open prison because he wrote a letter do not reflect the truth at all. An investigation has been initiated regarding those who made this baseless claim under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code for the crime of 'publicly disseminating misleading information.'"
Here is Minister Tunç's post;