US Dismisses Charges against Erdoğan’s Bodyguards

Click to read the article in Turkish

The majority of the charges pressed against the President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's bodyguards who attacked a group of protesters during his visit in Washington in 2017 have been dropped. The US-based political website the Hill has reported that the charges brought against four of Erdoğan's bodyguards with the accusation that they were involved in the incident were dropped upon the request of the Federal Prosecutors' Office in November 2017. In February 2018, before the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Turkey, the charges pressed against further seven guards of Erdoğan were also dropped.

According to the Hill, a group of officials from the US spoke to the Wall Street Journal newspaper about the issue and stated that the prosecutors were not placed under any pressure to make them drop the charges brought against the bodyguards. The officials also commented that "some suspects were falsely identified and there was not sufficient evidence against them".

Four suspects have remained in the investigation

The Hill has published neither the justifications of the prosecutors who requested the dismissal of the charges, nor those of the judges who dropped them.

With the dismissal of the charges, there are only four bodyguards who are still being investigated with the accusation that they were involved in the attacks against the protesters.

What happened?

Click to read - Erdoğan's Bodyguards Attack Protesters in US

In May 2017, in an incident that took place in front of Turkey's Embassy in Washington, the bodyguards of Erdoğan battered a number of protesters. After the attack, nine of the protesters were hospitalized due to the injuries inflicted. (ŞA/SD)