Turkish judge sets verdict date for Erdogan 'assassins'

By Levent Kisi and Durmus Genc

MUGLA, Turkey (AA) - A court in southwestern Turkey is set deliver verdicts against 47 suspects accused of attempting to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the defeated July 2016 coup.

The court in Mugla province, southwestern Turkey, adjourned a concluding hearing on Friday after hearing final evidence.

Verdicts in the case involving 47 suspects are now planned for Wednesday, Oct. 4.

Forty-three suspects had been remanded in custody pending trial; two other suspects remain at large.

Judge Emirsah Bastog received additional defense testimony on behalf of three former soldiers on Friday, before ending the hearing.

The trial’s first hearing was on Feb 20. The suspects have been accused of being part of an "assassination team" targeting Erdogan.

During the night of the coup attempt, two police officers were martyred at the scene of Erdogan's hotel in the Aegean port town of Marmaris.

Later that night Erdogan told the nation on live television he had narrowly escaped with his life when the hotel was bombed 15 minutes after he left the premises.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, orchestrated the foiled coup attempt, which left at least 250 people martyred and around 2,200 others wounded.

Turkey’s government 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.