Turkish journalist sent to court over fabricated evidence in Balyoz case

Journalist Mehmet Baransu was sent to court with a demand for his arrest on March 2 after being detained by anti-terror police in Istanbul in an operation over fabricated CDs that were used as evidence in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot case.

Police detained Baransu late on March 1 after searching his home for almost 10 hours, seizing a number of documents.

The retrial of the Balyoz case began on Nov. 3, 2014 after the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that the convicted suspects' rights were violated concerning "digital data and the defendants' testimonies."

An expert report has revealed that key pieces of evidence in the case were fabricated, stating that the notes on two CDs were written by a machine, not handwritten by General Süha Tanyeri as previously alleged.

Baransu had initially provided the CDs, numbered 11 and 17, as evidence for the coup case.