ISTANBUL
An Istanbul high criminal court on Monday announced its verdicts on 275 suspects of the six-year-long Ergenekon trial, who were accused of plotting to depose the Justice and Development (AK) Party government, ruling prison sentences of up to two counts of life imprisonment to some and acquitting 65 others.
Reading the verdicts individually in the presence of the defendants during the hearing held in Silivri Penal Institutions Campus, the chief judge announced the final verdict of the landmark trial of Turkey, the Ergenekon case, lasting about 6 years and 2 months, which was filed against 275 people including military officers, politicians and journalists over a conspiracy to overthrow Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.
The Turkish court convicted Turkey's former Chief of Staff retired general Ilker Basbug of attempting to overthrow the government and sentenced him to life in prison.
Basbug was the most prominent defendant among 275 people facing verdicts on Monday.
The six-year-long Ergenekon trial has been the center of tensions between the country's secular elite and Erdogan's AK Party.
The defendants are accused of plotting high-profile attacks that prosecutors said were aimed at sowing chaos in Turkey to prepare the way for a military coup, and of being part of an alleged organization called Ergenekon, taking its name from a legendary valley in Central Asia, the ancestral homeland of Turks.
In thousands of pages of indictment, prosecutors maintained that the gang was behind a series of violent acts, including one in 2006 on a courthouse that killed a judge, in a bid to create turmoil and provoke a military intervention.
Prosecutors previously claimed that the organization further plotted to kill Erdogan, Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk and other high-profile figures, all of which were rejected by the defendants.
Prosecutors demanded life imprisonment term for 64 of the defendants, mostly on terrorism charges while seeking imprisonment terms for others such as 15 years in prison for possession of firearms or being Ergenekon members.
Turkish security forces on Monday blocked hundreds of demonstrators from reaching the courthouse in the Silivri district, some 40 kilometers west of Istanbul, wanting to hold a rally in support of the defendants.
Turkish court later ruled to release main opposition lawmaker Mehmet Haberal, detained suspect in Ergenekon case, along with 16 detained suspects including Major General Hifzi Cubuklu, Ret. Lt. Gen. Ismail Hakki Pekin, detained of the Sledgehammer case Vice Admiral Mehmet Otuzbiroglu, Ret. Col. Sedat Ozuer, Osman Yildirim, Mehmet Perincek and Ziya Goktas.
The names of the suspects receiving imprisonment sentences and their sentences are as follows:
Former Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug to life in prison,
CHP deputies Mehmet Haberal to 12 years 6 months, Mustafa Balbay to 34 years 8 months, Sinan Aygun to 13 years 6 months,
Ret. Full Gen. Hursit Tolon to life imprisonment,
Journalist Tuncay Ozkan to aggravated life imprisonment for "conspiring to stage a military coup" with an additional 22.5 years for other crimes,
Labor Party leader Dogu Perincek to aggravated life imprisonment;
Yalcin Kucuk to 22 years 6 months,
Former Head of Supreme Board of Education (YOK) Kemal Guruz to 13 years 11 months,
Ret. Col. Dursun Cicek to aggravated life imprisonment,
Ret. Brigadier General Veli Kucuk to 2 counts of aggravated life imprisonment along with 99 years,
Ret. Col. Fuat Selvi to life imprisonment,
Ret. Gen. Hasan Igsiz to aggravated life imprisonment,
Ret. Gen Nusret Tasdeler to life imprisonment,
Alpaslan Arslan 2 counts of aggravated life imprisonment;,
Ret. Lieutenant Muzaffer Tekin to 2 counts of aggravated life imprisonment along with 117 years,
Former Inonu University Dean Prof. Dr. Fatih Hilmioglu to 23 years;
Ret. Col. Levent Goktas to 23 years and 9 months;
Ret. Col. Hasan Atilla Ugur to 29 years and 3 months;
Kemal Aydin 20 years 8 months,
Former Dean of Istanbul University Prof. Dr. Kemal Alemdaroglu to 15 years and 8 months;
Former deputy chief of police special operations department Ibrahim Sahin to 49 years and 4 months in prison
Lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz to aggravated life imprisonment;
Ret. Gen Mehmet Eroz to life imprisonment;
Ret. Col Fikri Karadag to aggravated life imprisonment;
Ret. Gen Sener Eruygur to life imprisonment
Former Lt. Col. Mustafa Donmez to 49 years 2 months,
Ret. Rear Admiral Alaettin Sevim to 10 years,
Ret. Lt. Gen. Ismail Hakkİ Pekin to 7 years 6 months,
Leader of a criminal organization Sedat Peker to 10 years,
Former 19 May University Rector Prof. Dr. Ferit Bernay to 10 years,
Former Uludag University Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Abbas Yurtkuran to 10 years,
Semih Tufan Gulaltay to 12 years,
Former Police Chief Adil Serdar Sacan to 14 years 5 months,
Ret. Col. Arif Dogan to 47 years 3 months,
Author Ergun Poyraz 29 years 7 months,
Bedirhan Sinal to 18 years 8 months,
Prof. Dr. Erol Manisalı to 9 years 8 months,
Former mayor Gurbuz Capan to 1 year 3 months,
Assoc. Prof. Umit Sayin to 4 years,
Aydinlik columnist Hikmet Cicek 21 years 9 months,
Deniz Yildirim to 16 years 10 months,
Lawyer Levent Temiz to 10 years,
Lt. Mehmet Ali Celebi 16 years 6 months,
Mehmet Demirtas to 22 years,
Former Chief of Staff Counsellor Muhittin Erdal Senel to 7 years 6 months,
Ret. Full Gen. Kemal Yavuz to 7 years 6 months,
Lawyer Nusret Senem to 20 years 3 months,
Lt. Noyan Calikusu 8 years 6 months,
Oktay Yildirim to 33 years 10 months,
Sami Hostan to 10 years,
Serdar Ozturk to 25 years 6 months,
Serhan Bolluk to 7 years 6 months,
Tuncer Kilinc to 13 years 2 months,
Sevgi Erenerol to life imprisonment.
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