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Maxi raid in Turkey, over 750 arrests for the failed coup in 2016

2020-02-18T09:51:11.998Z


Aggravated life sentence for philanthropist Osman Kavale asked for Gezi Park protests in 2013 (ANSA)


New maxi-raids in Turkey against suspected affiliates of the Fethullah Gulen network, which Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed coup d'état of 15 July 2016. Several prosecutors across the country have issued at least 766 arrest warrants . The operations, reports Anadolu, concern alleged infiltrators in the army, the police force and the Ministry of Justice.

The main operation is coordinated by the magistrates of the capital Ankara and targets 467 people accused of having rigged the 2009 exams for police officers, who allowed access to the position of deputy commissioner. The questions would have been disclosed in advance to help police officers linked to Gulen infiltrate the police. Blitz to try and arrest the suspects are underway in 67 provinces. Other raids are conducted across the country, from Izmir on the Aegean coast to Adana on the Mediterranean coast. Among the wanted are also dozens of soldiers still in service.

Since the failed putsch, tens of thousands of people have been arrested and over 140 thousand fired or suspended by public administrations in the largest purges of contemporary history in Turkey.

Meanwhile, today a new hearing is held in Istanbul in the trial against some of the most prominent figures of the 2013 Gezi Park protests . According to the indictment presented to the Silivri court, the prosecutor will ask for aggravated life imprisonment - a sort of 41 bis - for the well-known Turkish businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala , who has been in pre-trial detention for over two years on charges of attempting to overthrow the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan by financing street demonstrations. The prosecution intends to ask for life imprisonment for 2 of the 16 defendants overall among academics, journalists, artists and entrepreneurs, while six of them face penalties between 15 and 20 years. For the other seven, tried in absentia, an excerpt from the position was requested. The process is heavily criticized by international NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Protests are announced before the court.

At the last hearing, twenty days ago, the court rejected for the second time the request for the release of Kavala, the only detainee among the accused, whose release had also been requested by the European Court of Human Rights. Erdogan has repeatedly attacked him personally, claiming that he has ties to the "well-known Hungarian Jew Soros". A few days ago, however, absolution came in another trial against a prominent dissident, the writer Asli Erdogan, who now lives in self-exile in Germany.

Source: ansa

All life articles on 2020-02-18

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