Turkey sentences senior FETO member to 8 years in jail

By Murat Paksoy and Murat Kaya

ISTANBUL (AA) - A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced a senior member of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) to eight years in prison.

Hasan Huseyin Gunakan was arrested in Kosovo in an operation jointly carried out by the Turkish and Kosovo intelligence agencies and brought back to Turkey in March 2018.

Gunakan, one of the terror group's directors in the Balkans, was charged on the counts of espionage and being member of a terror group.

The Istanbul Heavy Penal Court in its ruling dropped the espionage charges against him.

The convict is one of the six FETO members who were brought in a private plane to Turkey from Kosovo.

Prosecutors had demanded imprisonment for up to 28 years for them.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on 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.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut