Turkey: 10 FETO members get heavy life sentences

By Mustafa Hatipoglu and Melike Gallenkus

ISTANBUL

A Turkish court handed aggravated life sentences to 10 members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) in a coup bid case, a judicial source said on Monday.

The 13th Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul convicted 10 suspects, including former police chiefs, of trying to overthrow the Republic of Turkey.

A total of 71 suspects -- 13 already arrested -- stood trial over their alleged involvement in the December 2013 plot against government ministers and leading businesspeople.

The court handed various prison sentences for some other suspects for being a member of an armed terror organization, violating the right of privacy, and bugging, the source said.

Dec. 17-25, 2013 saw a graft probe and the detention of prominent figures in a FETO plot to overthrow Turkey’s elected government.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.