[Hurriyet Daily News] Ankara prosecutors on Jan. 29 demanded 54 aggravated life sentences for 11 soldier suspects accused of joining the July 15, 2016 coup attempt by pounding police department buildings in the capital and killing 51 people.The suspects, including six army pilots and five higher-ranking soldiers, are accused of coordinating the attack on the police special operations branch headquarters and the police department air bureau headquarters.
They face 54 aggravated life sentences on charges of committing crimes against the constitution and deliberate killing of 45 special operations coppers, three civilian public employees, two civilians and a holy man on the night of the coup attempt.
In the case, which has around 100 plaintiffs, the suspects are also charged with "membership of an armed terror organization," "harming public property," "causing deliberate injury," and "qualified robbery."
The suspects each face three aggravated life terms for engaging in the coup attempt, in addition to 51 aggravated life terms for the 51 victims killed in the bombardment.
The demanded sentences are the heaviest sentences sought for suspects in probes related to the network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
, widely believed to have orchestrated the coup attempt.
Turkey puts Gulen, 269 others on trial over coup bid
[AlAhram]
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
on Monday opened the biggest trial yet over the failed July coup aimed at ousting President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
, trying 270 suspects including, in absentia, the alleged criminal mastermind Fethullah Gulen. The suspects, 152 of whom are in pre-trial detention, include ex high-ranking military officials like former Aegean Army Command Chief of Staff Major General Memduh Hakbilen, the state news agency Anadolu reported.
Also going on trial was ex-NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
Land Commander Chief of Staff Major General Salih Sevil.
The "number one" suspect is US-based Islamic preacher Gulen who is charged with ordering the failed July 15 coup, an accusation he strongly denies. Ankara also accuses the movement Gulen leads of being a "terror organization" although the group insists it is a peaceful organization promoting moderate Islam.
Those on trial in the western city of Izmir face multiple charges including being a member of the "armed terror group".
Turkey has repeatedly asked the United States to extradite Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile there since 1999. The previous administration of Barack Obama
If you like your coverage you can keep it...
had insisted that a possibly slow legal process should take its course but Ankara is hoping for a more eager response to its extradition request from new President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
Gulen previously went on trial in absentia in January last year over corruption allegations that hit Erdogan in 2013. The Turkish justice ministry also sent new evidence to Washington for Gulen's return including the indictment for the Izmir case, Anadolu reported on Monday. The indictment includes witness statements alleging that Gulen was to be presented with the plans for the coup by Adil Oksuz for his approval, the agency added.
Turkish officials have said that theology lecturer Oksuz was the so-called "imam" of the plot and in charge of coordinating between Gulen and the army. Oksuz was detained in the aftermath of the coup but then released and is now on the run.
Other charges against the suspects include seeking to prevent parliament performing its duty as well as attempting to remove the constitutional order, the agency said. The suspects face life imprisonment if convicted in a trial expected to take two months, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
It said Izmir was believed to be one of the main plotting hubs of the coup with the Aegean city used as a "logistical base".
Memduh was apparently to be declared Izmir's "martial law commander" by the putschists, Anadolu reported at the time.
A special courtroom was built to accommodate the size of the trial and security was tight. Intensive security measures included a drone above the courthouse, bomb-sniffing dogs and commando units.
Previous trials have opened in Istanbul and smaller cases in other provinces in what is expected to be the largest legal process in the country's history.
Some 43,000 people are under arrest ahead of trial in a large-scale crackdown within a state of emergency declared after the coup which remains in place.
In December, 29 coppers went on trial in Istanbul accused of failing to defend Erdogan while 62 rebel soldiers are being tried over claims they attempted to take over Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport on the night of July 15.