Turkey charges US consulate employee with espionage

AFP  |  Ankara 

A on Friday accepted an indictment charging a local employee of the US consulate in with espionage and attempting to overthrow the government, reported.

alleges that ordered a failed coup in 2016, but he denies the claims.

The court, which accepted the prosecutor's indictment issued last month, ordered Topuz to remain in jail, state agency said. He has been in custody since September 2017.

Topuz's trial will begin on March 26 and the first hearing will last three days. He faces life in jail if found guilty.

The consulate employee is suspected of having contacts with former police officers and a on the run accused of links with the movement, reported.

The agency added that the indictment claimed Topuz had "very intense contacts" with former police chiefs involved in a 2013 probe into corruption allegations that affected government officials at the time.

has dismissed that investigation as an attempted "judicial coup" against the government by the Gulen movement.

Topuz had been at the centre of a visa row between and in late 2017 after his arrest.

Turkey-US relations have been strained in recent years over multiple issues including the US refusing to extradite Gulen.

There was also a bitter row last summer over the detention of an American pastor, but tensions eased after his release in October.

The court's decision comes a day after a in the southeastern city of convicted a former local employee of the US consulate in Adana,

was found guilty of helping outlawed Kurdish militants, and sentenced to four years and six months in jail.

But the court ruled he be released because of the time he had already served in jail since March 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, February 01 2019. 20:05 IST