Turkey begins freeing suspects linked to app used by coup plotters
ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities have begun freeing some suspects arrested for involvement in a coup attempt after they found that thousands had been unwittingly re-directed to a messaging app used by the plotters, media outlets reported on Friday.
Turkey has identified 215,000 users of the ByLock messaging app and started investigating more than 23,000 of them. Ankara said many of those were re-directed to ByLock unwittingly via a different app developed by the plotters of the failed coup. An arrest warrant was issued for the developer of that app.
Ankara's chief prosecutor said earlier this week that using ByLock remains one of the biggest indications of collaboration with the plotters of the failed putsch in which 250 people were killed.
But he said he would ask for the release of 1,000 suspects unless there was any other evidence against them.
