Life sentences for hundreds over failed overthrow attempt
ISTANBUL — A Turkish court sentenced the accused ringleaders and hundreds of others suspected of involvement in the failed 2016 coup to multiple life terms Thursday, at the culmination of one of the most important mass trials in the plot to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The trial of 475 defendants focused on a group of senior military officers and civilians who set up headquarters at the Akinci air base outside the capital, Ankara, on the night of the coup and ordered warplanes, helicopters and army units to attack and seize key targets. Among the 337 defendants who received multiple life sentences were members of a small core accused of masterminding the coup attempt.
The massive trial was one of two main trials against suspected members of a network led by U.S.based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed attempt. Gulen, who was also named among the defendants, has denied involvement in the coup
The sentences serve as a capstone to four years of prosecutions in Turkey since the attempted coup, pinning responsibility on those accused as the main perpetrators of a violent attempt at seizing power that was widely rejected by the public. But the government’s sweeping repression of dissent in the aftermath has damaged democracy and rule of law in the country.
During two years of martial law in the aftermath of the coup, the authorities detained some 100,000 people and purged 150,000 public servants from their jobs. The detained included political opponents of the government, Kurdish activists and human rights defenders, among others.
That led many to accuse the government of using the coup as an excuse to crack down more broadly on dissent.
The courts have now concluded almost all of the 289 trials related to the coup attempt and have convicted more than 4,000 people.
Legal professionals have criticized the use of mass trials against thousands accused of even vague involvement in the coup, including convictions handed down to army cadets and others who were ordered out on to the streets that night with little knowledge of what was going on.
The coup failed when hundreds of thousands of civilians blocked the streets and units loyal to the government took control. More than 250 people died.