Turkey seizes exiled journalist Can Dündar's assets
An Istanbul court on Oct. 7 declared exiled journalist Can Dündar a “fugitive” and ruled for the seizure of his assets. Cumhuriyet daily former editor-in-chief Dündar had been granted a period of 15 days to appear before the court in his ongoing trial over coverage of alleged arms shipments to Syria.
Duvar English
An Istanbul court on Oct. 7 ruled that the Turkish government will seize all assets of Can Dündar, former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper.
The decision came following Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court's decision back in September that Dündar would be treated as a “fugitive” and his assets would be seized if he does not return to Turkey within 15 days.
As the time period expired, the court ordered the seizure of the exiled journalist's assets, which include three properties in Istanbul, the capital Ankara and the southern province of Muğla.
The court also ordered that the Turkish Banks Association will be notified regarding the issue and the money in Dündar's bank accounts will be similarly seized.
Following the court's order, Dündar wrote on Twitter: "The real 'home' of a person is their homeland. We, 82 million citizens, are about to lose that big home in the darkness. This is now what is more important than every house."
Dündar has been in living in exile in Germany since 2016. He fled Turkey after being convicted of espionage for publishing a story about Turkish arms shipments to Syria rebels.
The current retrial started before the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court on April 2 2019, after the Court of Cassation overturned the Regional Court of Appeal’s verdict of a prison sentence for disclosing the state’s confidential information in March 2019.