Former İstanbul Police Chief Hüseyin Çapkın, who was jailed in September due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, inspired by US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has been released.
Çapkın served as İstanbul chief of police between 2009 and 2013. He was jailed as part of an investigation launched by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into a failed coup attempt that took place on July 15.
Çapkın’s lawyer Fahrettin Kocagöz announced in a written statement on Tuesday that his client had been released but that a travel ban has been imposed on him.
Earlier, Çapkın testified to prosecutors as part of an investigation into the Dec. 17-25 corruption investigations that erupted in late 2013, implicating senior members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
The AKP government branded the corruption investigations a “coup attempt” and arrested dozens of police officers who conducted the probes.
In his testimony Çapkın said he did not have prior information about the Dec. 17-25 corruption investigations, either.
He was removed from his post after the corruption investigations became public knowledge in late 2013.