41,000 Gülen probe suspects are under arrest: Justice Ministry

ANKARA

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Justice Ministry sources said on Jan. 2 that there are 41,326 suspects who are arrested as part of probes launched against the Gülen movement in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt. 

Sources said 103,850 people were prosecuted and pre-trial arrest warrants had been issued against 41,326 of them.  

Among those arrested, 2,286 are judges and prosecutors, 104 are members of the Supreme Court of Appeals, 41 are members of the Council of State members, and three are members of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK). 

Some 6,325 of those arrested are from the military, including 168 generals. Some 7,624 are policemen, 100 are district governors, 74 are deputy governors, and 17 of them are provincial governors.  

Sources said 3,831 suspects have been released as the probes are ongoing, among them 1,066 soldiers and 583 police officers. 

Operations to apprehend many suspects are still ongoing, the sources added, as there are a total of 5,150 people who have warrants against them but are currently on the run.  

A total of 902 suspects are currently under detention, the source added.

Meanwhile Ankara prosecutors on Jan. 2 sought three aggravated life-terms and up to 22.5 years in jail for 51 Air Force Academy students for their alleged role in the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The suspect are charged with “attempting to abolish the constitutional order,” membership to terrorist organization,” and “attempting to abolish the parliament, the government and attempting to prevent it from carrying out its duties.”  

The first trial into the coup attempt began in Istanbul on Dec. 27 amid tight security measures at a courthouse inside a prison complex that was once known as the venue for hearings in cases led by judges and prosecutors inside the Fethullah Gülen network. 

Twenty-nine police officers are being tried at Istanbul’s 22nd High Penal Court in Istanbul’s Silivri district on a range of charges connected to July’s deadly coup attempt, widely believed to have been orchestrated by the followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Gülen. 

Among the 29 officers, 25 were remanded in custody for disobeying orders to resist the coup attempt. The police officers are charged with disobeying orders to defend the Hüber Kiosk, a presidential palace in Istanbul, on the night of the coup attempt.