Turkey: Ex-judge gets 10 years for terrorist membership

By Serdar Acil

ANKARA

A former top Turkish jurist was sentenced to 10 years in jail on Tuesday for being a member of FETO, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

At the 21st Heavy Penal Court in the capital Ankara, the judge also ordered the continued detention of Mehmet Oguz Kaya, former secretary general of the Constitutional Court, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Kaya was convicted of being a member of an armed terrorist organization.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup, which 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.