Turkish court hands down life sentences in coup trial
Turkey’s state-run news agency says a court in
Ankara has sentenced several people accused of being the ringleaders of the
2016 failed military coup to life terms in prison.
Anadolu Agency says those sentenced on Thursday
include Akin Ozturk, a former air force commander and Ali Yazici, who was
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s military aide. The sentences are still being
handed down.
The suspects were on trial on charges of crimes
against the state, leading an armed terror group, attempting to assassinate the
president and the deaths of 249 people.
The trial is considered the main one among several
underway in Turkey in relation to the coup attempt that the government says was
carried out by followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The cleric
denies involvement.
