Retired General Ilker Basbug, former chief of staff of the Turkish military, was sentenced to life in prison today.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of being members of a group called Ergenekon that committed a variety of terrorist attacks, including political assassinations and bomb attacks, The LA Times writes. Allegedly, the organization’s plan was to get the military involved and stage a coup.
Basbug, along with 16 others, was convicted of trying to overthrow the Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, TIME Magazine reports. Verdicts were handed down to about 275 people today, including the most prominent defendant Basbug, bringing the five-year trial to a close.
According to Hurriyet Daily News, Turkish Republican People’s Party (RPP) and main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, called the verdicts “illegitimate,” and added that “[the Turkish] courts don’t distribute justice. Because they are courts under the instruction of the political authority and intend to fulfill their orders. The notion of rule of law is not valid for these courts.”
Photo courtesy of Turkish Armed Forces, Wikimedia Commons