Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of up to 30 years for 11 defendants, including Iranian spies, on charges of an attempt to abduct a defecting Iranian military commander in the eastern province of Van, which shares a border with Iran.
M.A., a pilot with the rank of major in the Iranian army, had filed a criminal complaint last year, claiming that unknown people had tried to abduct him. Eight people were arrested in September 2021 in connection with the incident in a joint operation by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and police.
An indictment approved by Fourth High Criminal Court in Van seek prison terms for defendants on charges of espionage, membership in a criminal organization and attempt to abduct. The indictment says the defendants tried to kidnap M.A., who took shelter in Turkey in 2018 after illegally crossing the border, several times but they failed every time.
M.A. had told investigators that in one instance he was taken to a village in Van’s Özalp district by C.S., one of the defendants he originally negotiated with and paid to travel to Canada as an illegal immigrant. He claimed C.S. sought to deliver him to Iranian intelligence there in exchange for $20,000 but this attempt failed when the intelligence officials did not show up. He said he found out about this plot much later and he was subjected to another abduction attempt in August 2021, when he confronted C.S. in the latter’s office for a refund. He said he and his spouse were forced into a car but when she screamed and shouted that they were being abducted, suspects took them out of the car and fled. -Agencies
