Turkey hands life sentences to 104 people over coup attempt

A court in Turkey sentenced 104 people to life in prison for involvement in the failed military coup of 2016, handing down the heaviest penalties possible in the country.

The defendants were part of a group trial of 280 people, mostly military personnel, accused of participating in an attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Scuffles broke out at the sentencing Monday as some of the defendants tried to attack two witnesses who had turned state’s evidence

and given details of the plan during the trial, according to Turkish news reports.

The court in Yenisakran, near the coastal city of Izmir in the west of Turkey, convicted 104 of the defendants to “aggravated life,” the heaviest sentence possible in Turkey, with very little chance of parole.

An additional 21 people were given 20 years in prison for their part in the attempt to overthrow the president, and 31 others were sentenced to 10 years and six months for “membership of a terrorist organization,” the newspaper Hurriyet reported.

The men were on trial for their

part in the events of the night of July 15, 2016, when a group of military officers and civilians commandeered tanks and warplanes, firing on protesters and bombing the Parliament building in the capital, Ankara, in an effort to seize power. Erdogan narrowly escaped capture, but 250 people, mostly unarmed civilians, were killed as they faced down tanks on the streets.

Turkey has been holding a series of mass trials for those accused of involvement in the coup, including retired and active military and air force officers, special forces personnel and cadets who were ordered out from their barracks that night.