ANKARA
Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party MP Engin Alan has been released from prison after a court ruled for the retrials of 237 defendants in the "Sledgehammer" coup plot case.
Retired army general Alan was found guilty in 2011 for his part in an alleged plot which aimed to topple the ruling AK Party, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The Anatolian High Criminal Court no: 4 ruled for the retrial of the 237 defendants, who include retired generals Cetin Dogan, Halil Ibrahim Firtina, and retired admiral Ozden Ornek.
The defendants had earlier been sentenced to between six and 20 years imprisonment but the Turkish Constitutional Court ruled that their rights had been breached by "digital data" collection and wiretapping.
The "Sledgehammer" coup plot was an alleged plan by a suspected junta in the Turkish Armed Forces, which reportedly dates back to 2003; a year after the AK Party came to power. The plot was allegedly based on undermining the government to lay the groundwork for a military takeover.
According to the alleged plan, the military would systematically create chaos in society with acts of violence, including the bombing of mosques in Istanbul and the downing of a Turkish warplane over the Aegean Sea.
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