Turkey puts coup plotters on trial

sincan (Turkey) — More than 220 suspects, including over two dozen former Turkish generals, went on trial on Monday accused of being among the ringleaders of the attempted coup last year aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Furious protesters outside the court called for the death penalty for the accused and flung rope nooses at the defendants as they were paraded into court handcuffed and held by the security forces.

Turkey blames the attempted July 15 putsch on the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a claim he strongly denies, and has launched a relentless purge under a state of emergency against those deemed to have backed the plot.

Gulen is among 12 of the 221 suspects in the current trial who remain at large, with the remainder appearing in court for the first time inside a prison complex in Sincan outside Ankara.

The suspects were paraded into the courtroom by heavily armed security forces forming two columns in front of television cameras.—