Turkish courts sentence 1,258 defendants to aggravated life over their alleged role in coup attempt

Turkish courts have sentenced a total of 1,808 defendants to long prison terms, including aggravated life sentences to the 1,258 defendants, in 163 out of 286 court cases opened against the alleged putschists over their alleged roles in the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

According to data compiled by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency on Wednesday, following the controversial coup attempt in 2016, Turkish prosecutors have launched more than 100,000 investigations. After the completion of these investigations, 286 court cases opened by prosecutors to try the alleged putschists and 163 of these court cases have been finalised so far.

In these finalised court cases, 579 defendants were given aggravated life sentences while 31 defendants were sentenced to 4 aggravated life sentences and 4 defendants to 3 aggravated life sentences. Among those who were given aggravated life sentences are 48 generals, 380 military officers, 97 non-commissioned officers, 25 expert sergeants, an expert soldier, 16 military school cadets, 6 engineers, 2 police officers, 6 civilians.

Also, the courts have sentenced 697 defendants, including 9 generals, 199 military officers, 89 non-commissioned officers, to life sentence while 550 defendants were given prison sentences between 1 years, 2 months and 20 years.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. On December 13, 2017 the Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on April 18, 2018 that the Turkish government had jailed 77,081 people between July 15, 2016 and April 11, 2018 over alleged links to the Gülen movement.

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from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-courts-sentence-1258-defendants-to-aggravated-life-over-their-alleged-role-in-coup-attempt/