Kübra Chohan
22 December 2017•Update: 22 December 2017
By Kubra Chohan
ANKARA
A total of 84 people were convicted and sentenced to prison Friday for being members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind last year’s defeated coup, according to a security source.
A total of 48 academics formerly of northwestern Bolu’s Abant Izzet Baysal University were given sentences ranging from two to seven years, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Northwestern Canakkale’s 2nd Heavy Penal Court gave a life sentence to a former military commander who was arrested just three days after the defeated coup attempt.
In Kocaeli, another northwestern province, a former police chief was sentenced to over six years in jail for being a member of an armed terrorist organization.
In the Black Sea provinces of Samsun and Rize, a total of four people, including a former judge, were handed prison terms of over six years.
In the central province of Kayseri, seven people were handed prison terms of some four to seven years.
Eleven former academic and administrative personnel of central Turkey’s Kirikkale University were given jail terms ranging from some six to eight years.
The 2nd High Criminal Court in the southern Hatay convicted a total of 12 people in two separate hearings, giving them jail terms ranging between six and seven years.
The defeated coup on July 15, 2016 left 250 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.
*Muhittin Sandikci, Lale Koklu, Ramazan Kaya, Burak Akay, Recep Bilek, and Zekeriya Karadavut contributed to this story.
