Suspect's phone cannot be inspected because he cannot recall the password

The mobile phone of a suspect in an assassination case in Turkey could not be inspected by the police for evidence, "because the suspect does not have a recollection of the phone's password," Turkish news agency DHA reported on Thursday.

The suspect Serdar Oktem, a lawyer and one of the 18 suspects in custody in the case of the murder of former Grey Wolves leader Sinan Ates, reportedly told the police that he had a memory loss after he suffered a Covid-19 infection, and that he cannot recall what the password for his mobile phone is, DHA said.

The police has been left helpless, according to DHA's report, and has been trying to find a way to tap into the information in the phone.

Oktem had been a candidate for the far right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in Istanbul in the 2015 parliamentary elections.

Sinan Ates, former leader of the Grey Wolves (formally the Hearth of Ideal) that serves as the unofficial youth wing and paramilitary organization of MHP, was killed on 30 December 2022 by gunmen in Ankara. He had been removed from his post in April 2020 for reasons still unknown, and was subjected to accusations of factionalism and being affiliated with Gulenist movement (once a close ally, currently arch enemy of the ruling Justice and Development Party) by MHP officials.

MHP leader Devlet Bahcelis has still not provided a comprehensive response to allegations that Ates's murder was the result of internal strife within MHP and that some party officials are involved in the murder.