ISTANBUL
A Turkish court decided on Thursday to release all 237 defendants in the "Sledgehammer" coup case, a suspected coup planned against the ruling AK Party government from 2003.
The Anatolian 4th High Criminal Court ruled for the retrial of the 237 defendants, who include retired generals Cetin Dogan, Halil Ibrahim Firtina, retired admiral Ozden Ornek and Engin Alan, a lawmaker from the Nationalist Action Party (MHP).
The defendants had earlier been sentenced to six to 20 years imprisonment but the Turkish Constitutional Court ruled that their rights had been breached by "digital data" collection and wiretapping.
The alleged "Sledgehammer" coup plot was a allaged 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.
The initial September 2012 ruling for 324 of the 365 defendants to go to jail was partially overturned by an appeals court, who released 88 defendants for lack of evidence against them in October 2013.
www.aa.com.tr/en
