Turkey: Ex-judiciary official gets reduced prison term

ANKARA

The former deputy chairman of Turkey’s top judiciary council was sentenced to two years and six months in prison Thursday on terrorism charges, judicial sources said.

Ahmet Hamsici, the former deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), was arrested following the defeated coup of July 15, 2016.

The 9th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals in the capital Ankara imposed a 12-year prison term on Hamsici for being a member of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

But the court reduced his sentence after he confessed and provided useful information about the structure and activities of the terrorist group.

Hamsici has served as a witness in numerous FETO cases.

He also testified as a witness in the case of former HSYK General Secretary Mehmet Kaya, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges.

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.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut