Freedom for Emre İper, officially declared not to have ByLock

Ankara Chief Republic Prosecution has announced that 11,480 GSM subscribers listed as users of ByLock, FETO’s secret communications program, had been routed involuntarily to ByLock IPs. It has been determined that those who downloaded and used the application named Purple Brain contained in music programs and those that showed prayer and call to prayer times routed at certain times to the main ByLock servers, giving the impression that ByLock was being used. Ankara Chief Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman, stating that he has sent this list to prosecutor’s offices and courts, indicated that some one thousand detainees should be released if there was no other evidence. It has been learnt that our newspaper’s accounting employee Yusuf Emre İper, who has been detained for 266 days, also appears on the prosecution’s list. Despite İper’s persistent claims in the Cumhuriyet trial not to be a ByLock user and this being proved with experts’ reports, he has not managed to drive the point home and his release has not ensued. Certain objections have recently started to reach prosecutor’s offices over ByLock, which is accepted by the Court of Cassation as being the most important evidence for the offence of FETO membership. Certain people who are accused of using ByLock persistently claim not to have done so. Ankara Chief Prosecution, having launched an investigation into this, instructed the intelligence agency and Information and Communication Technologies Authority and asked for a detailed study to be conducted and for the matter to be investigated. In technical investigations carried out by the intelligence agency and Information and Communication Technologies Authority, findings were made that certain GSM lines determined to have had connections with the application server had been routed to the servers immediately prior to these connections by the Purple Brain application developed by FETO.

 Release awaited

The detailed examination conducted by the prosecution has led to the determination that 11,480 GSM subscribers with connections and parameters that display similar characteristics were routed involuntarily to ByLock IPs. It was said in a statement issued by the chief prosecution, “Findings have been obtained that, for the purpose of hampering the identification of real ByLock users and detracting from struggle against the FETO/PDY terrorist organisation, these subscribers were consciously routed to the bylock.net domain name by applications developed by organisation-member software developers. In view of this information, the legal position of GSM subscribers who have been determined to have been routed unknowingly and involuntarily to ByLock servers must be assessed by investigating authorities with reference to the other evidence in investigation files.” Ankara Chief Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman, stating that findings concerning 11,480 numbers determined to have been subjected to technical routing had been forwarded to provincial Chief Republic Prosecutions and Regional Courts of Justice Republic Chief Prosecutions, noted that some one thousand detainees who were involved should be released if there was no other evidence.

Former TÜBİTAK employee

 The Chief Prosecution has also launched an investigation to identify the FETO members who set up this snare. It has emerged from within the investigation that the organisation was headed by the fugitive former Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) employee Kemalettin Cengiz Erbakırcı. Erbakırcı, who fled to the Netherlands four days prior to the coup, seemingly developed the Purple Brain application. According to information obtained by Cumhuriyet, it appears that our paper’s accounting employee Yusuf Emre İper numbers among the 11,480 people. The Chief Prosecution has sent the list on which İper’s name appears to Istanbul Chief Prosecution. İper was arrested on 7 April on the grounds of being a ByLock user, and was then placed in detention on 18 April. The trial in which İper stands charged of FETO membership was joined with the main Cumhuriyet trial.

 Proven in court

Judicial expert Koray Peksayar, who examined İper’s phones at the request of our paper’s lawyers, concluded, “No trace was detected in the examination made of the backup taken from the phone belonging to İper of the software name ByLock having been installed or installed and deleted.” Tuncay Beşikçi, who compiled a second scientific expert opinion, also stated in his report that ByLock was not installed on İper’s phone. In spite of this, Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 27 dismissed İper’s application for release citing the existence of strong suspicion of guilt. İper has been awaiting his release for 266 days.

 TEN ENSNARING PROGRAMS

The study has led to the finding that FETO, in view of the likelihood that ByLock would come to light, programmed certain applications configured so that those who downloaded them would be routed to the ByLock server. It has emerged that downloaders of some ten programs, such as those that give reminders of prayer times and indicate the direction for prayer or search for songs, were routed without their awareness to the ByLock server. Some of those programs are: Best Free Music, Freezy Müzik, Bul Dinle, Freezy Play Free Music Online, Mor German English Dictionary, En Ucuz Fiyat Mor, Almanca-Türkçe Sözlük and Araba2.com.

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/turkiye/894114/Arkadasimiz_Emre_iper_de_ByLock_olmadigi_aciklandi__Ozgurlugunu_verin.html