European court rejects FETO terror convict's appeal

By Kemal Karadag and Ismet Karakas

ANKARA (AA) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Friday dismissed as inadmissible a case brought by a convicted member of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.

Ilyas Yaygin was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison for using the terror group's encrypted messaging app ByLock and being part of FETO’s infiltration of Turkish business circles.

Pleading that he was arrested without sufficient evidence, Yaygin applied to the ECHR, arguing that he was the victim of various rights violations.

After examining the application, the European court found it baseless and inadmissible.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup in Turkey of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were martyred and 2,734 injured.

Ankara also 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.