An appeals court in Turkey on Monday confirmed a five-year jail term for former national police chief and politician Mehmet Agar for establishing an organization for committing crimes.
Earlier, Prosecutors at the Supreme Court of Appeals in Istanbul requested the Court to uphold a lower court ruling of September 2011 awarding five years' jail for Agar for establishing a criminal organization in a trial concerning a 1996 car accident that exposed links between the Turkish state, the criminal underworld and Turkish security forces, often referred to as the 'Susurluk' scandal.
Agar, who served as police chief shortly before the incident, stood trial for his role in an unlikely arrangement between a famous mafia boss, a member of the security forces and a politician.
Agar told reporters in Istanbul that he was "not involved in a situation that would embarrass our supporters." He asserted that while one could accuse him of neglect of duty, he was not guilty of any other crime. "Despite all this, I am a statesman. I will do whatever is necessary for all [Turkish] citizens in this case," he was quoted by Turkish media as saying.
Agar will spend two years in prison and will then be released on probation in accordance with a recent amendment to the Law on Conditional Release, which governs the conditions of a prisoner's release.
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