Turkey: FETO leader's lawyer sentenced to 12 years

By Omer Sut

IZMIR, Turkey (AA) - A Turkish court in Izmir on Monday sentenced the lawyer of U.S.-based terror leader Fetullah Gulen to 12 years in prison for his links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Feti Un was initially handed a sentence of eight years behind bars, which was increased to 12 years accordingly to the Counterterror Act.

In another trial, a court in the central province of Konya, six former police officers, along with the former assistant police director of Konya's Aksehir district and a former security chief, were separately handed sentences ranging from six years and 10 months to seven years and six months over FETO links.

The 3rd High Criminal Court in the northern province of Samsun also sentenced a former soldier to six years and three months as part of a FETO probe.

The former gendarmerie lieutenant Huseyin Gultekin was sentenced to jail for his links to FETO.

Meanwhile, the Samsun court also jailed a former doctor to six years and three months in prison for being members of an armed terrorist organization.

Moreover, in a trial concerning Turkey's Central Bank staff in Ankara on Monday as part of an investigation into FETO, eight of 36 suspects who had been arrested, were released under judicial control.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and some 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.