UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS
By Serdar Acil and Tanju Ozkaya
ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish prosecutor on Wednesday urged multiple aggravated life sentences for alleged members of a group which plotted to replace the government after the 2016 defeated coup bid.
In the capital Ankara, the prosecutor Bulent Karakus recommended 252 aggravated life sentences each for 37 alleged members of the so-called “Peace at Home Council,” a sub-group of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup.
In Ankara’s 17th Heavy Penal Court, Karakus asked the court to charge the so-called council members with violating the Constitution, deliberate killing, and attempting to assassinate the president.
Former Air Forces Commander Gen. Akin Ozturk -- seen as the main officer who plotted the coup from within the military -- is among those facing multiple aggravated life sentences, along with former Maj. Gen. Mehmet Disli of the General Staff Strategy Department; ex-Maj. Gen. Ilhan Talu, a former General Staff personnel chief; ex-Col. Ali Yazici, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s former military aide; and ex-Brig. Gen. Hakan Evrim, former commander of Ankara’s Akinci Main Jet Base.
The prosecutor also asked the court to sentence the above defendants to nearly 56,000 years in jail each for injuring 177 security forces and over 2,500 civilians the night of the defeated coup.
He also asked the court to sentence Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO)-linked fugitive suspect Birol Kurubas, who was the highest-level so-called "imam” officer of the alleged putschists, to an aggravated life term.
Karakus also asked for the release of 12 defendants due to a lack of evidence.
The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara has also said FETO is behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.