Turkey: 56 ex-soldiers get heavy life over coup attempt

By Ertugrul Subasi and Ismet Karakas

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish court on Thursday handed down aggravated life sentences for some 56 ex-soldiers over their involvement in the defeated 2016 coup in Turkey, according to judicial sources.

In a case trying 152 suspects, Ankara 17th High Criminal Court ruled aggravated life term in prison for 56 convicts, while sentencing 18 others to life behind bars for their roles in Turkish Army Aviation Command during July 15, 2016 defeated coup, said sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Among those, who received aggravated life sentences, was Ugur Kapan, a pro-coup helicopter pilot, who transported Hulusi Akar, then-chief of General Staff, to Cankaya Palace from Akinci Base during the coup attempt.

Kapan was slapped with life sentence aggravated 29 times and sentenced to almost 4,000 years in prison, the sources said.

The court also ruled acquittal of 31 suspects in the trial.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 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.