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| Europe |
| Turkish court orders coup suspect back to jail |
| 2010-04-06 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] An Istanbul court ordered on Sunday the re-arrest of 19 serving and retired military officers charged over an alleged plot to overthrow the government, according to media reports. Among the 19, who were freed from detention on Thursday pending trial, were retired four-star general Cetin Dogan, the former head of Turkey's First Army, and Lt. Gen. Engin Alan, a former special forces commander. The suspects were among 70 serving and retired soldiers rounded up in February over an alleged 2003 plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). Forty of the suspects were eventually remanded in custody. After prosecutors in charge of the investigation appealed against their release, a court on Sunday decided to issue arrest warrants against the suspects, the Anatolia news agency reported. General Dogan went into a military hospital after his release and is due to have a hernia operation next week. The court also issued arrest warrants against two other suspects -- a general and an admiral -- who were released pending trial after giving testimony last week, the NTV news channel said. The unprecedented investigation of the Turkish army has seen prosecutors accused of issuing arrest rulings liberally and effectively punishing suspects before the charges have been proved in court. The alleged plot -- codenamed "Operation Sledgehammer" -- reportedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with Greece, thus sparking political chaos and justifying a military takeover. Dogan has denied the charges, claiming that papers from a contingency plan based on a scenario of domestic unrest had been doctored to look like a coup plot. |
| Posted by:Fred |