Tanks on the Bosphorus Bridge, now officially known as the "Bridge of the Martyrs of July 15," on the day after the attempted coup
Photo: MURAD SEZER / REUTERS
More than four years after the attempted coup against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a court in Ankara has sentenced more than 300 people to life imprisonment.
According to the state news agency Anadolu, 337 defendants were found guilty of breach of the constitution, "attempted assassination of the president," and manslaughter, according to court documents.
60 other defendants were sentenced to prison terms of between six and 17 years.
75 people received acquittals.
Several hundred people were charged in the trial.
According to Anadolu, some civilians and military personnel were given particularly high sentences.
They are said to have partly organized and initiated the coup on the Mürted army airfield (formerly Akinci) near Ankara.
79 times for life - per person
For example, the pilot Hasan Husnu Balikci, who is accused of bombing the parliament in Ankara, is sentenced to 79 times life imprisonment.
According to the Reuters news agency, there is no possibility of dismissal.
Four men who the court had planned to assassinate the president were also sentenced to 79 times life imprisonment.
The extreme sentence has replaced the death penalty, which was abolished in Turkey in 2004, according to the AFP news agency.
On the evening of July 15, 2016, parts of the military had put into a coup against the Erdoğan government.
In Istanbul and the capital Ankara there were clashes between putschists and security forces loyal to the state.
The putschists used tanks and fighter jets and fired, among other things, at civilians who opposed them, following an appeal by Erdoğan.
Turkish government blames Gülen movement
The parliament building in Ankara was also shot at.
The Mürted air force base near the capital was an important base for the subversives in the night of the coup.
In total, more than 250 people were killed and 2,000 injured in the failed coup.
Turkey blames the preacher Fethullah Gülen, who lives in the USA, for the coup attempt.
Gülen rejects that.
According to Anadolu, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that 292,000 people have been arrested in operations against the Gülen movement to date.
96,000 have been arrested.
The search for those involved has continued without ceasing since 2016.
Icon: The mirror
fek / dpa / AFP / Reuters
