Record life terms sought for top FETÖ suspects

ANKARA

Turkish prosecutors on May 9 demanded multiple aggravated life sentences for alleged members of a senior group of suspects involved in the 2016 military coup attempt.

Prosecutors in the capital Ankara recommended 252 aggravated life sentences for alleged members of the so-called “Peace at Home Council” that led the coup attempt.

In the main trial of former General Staff personnel a total of 224 defendants are being tried.

Akın Öztürk, accused of being one of the main coup-plotters, is among those facing multiple aggravated life sentences, along with Mehmet Dişli, formerly of the General Staff Strategy Department, İlhan Talu, former General Staff personnel chief, Ali Yazıcı, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former military aide, and Hakan Evrim, former commander of Ankara’s Akıncı Main Jet Base.

Prosecutors also asked the court to sentence the defendants with killing security forces and civilians on the night of the defeated coup, violating the constitution, deliberate killing, and attempting to assassinate the president.

A total of 55,880 years in jail for 12 other suspects over their links to the network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. 

The network is widely believed to have masterminded the coup attempt, which left over 250 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured.