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Turkey sentences 42 soldiers to life in prison for trying to kill Erdogan

Turkey: A Turkish court has found 42 soldiers guilty of attempting to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup last year, sentencing most of them to life in prison.

The accused included senior military officers and personnel from the Turkish special forces and combat search-and-rescue units, The New York Times reported.

Judge Emirsah Bastog read out guilty verdicts for 42 of the 47 defendants at the court in Mugla, southwestern Turkey, a report in Dawn said.

Of the remaining five, one was acquitted, another’s case was transferred to a different court. No verdict was passed for two others who were tried in absentia.

Exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen is among those on trial, but no verdict was given in his case either, BBC reported. The Turkish government has accused the cleric of organising the coup.

The case involved specific allegations relating to the attempted assassination of Mr Erdogan and his family on the night of July 15 2016.

The court heard that the defendants had raided the hotel where Mr Erdogan and his family were staying. Mr Erdogan, who had been warned about the coup earlier, had left the premises earlier that evening.

Demonstrators supporting Erdogan pelted eggs and plastic bottles at the defendants as they were escorted from the courthouse by the police, Reuters reported. They demanded the death penalty for the accused, which was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as part of the country’s bid to join the European Union.

On July 16, 2016 a section of Turkey’s military had rebelled and tried to overthrow the government. They faced resistance from thousands of citizens as well as Army troops, and more than 150 people were killed in the violence. Turkey accuses Gulen, who is currently in the United States, and his supporters of organising the coup.

Since the attempted coup, 40,000 people have been arrested and 1.2 lakh others have been dismissed or suspended from their posts as soldiers, police officers, teachers and public servants over suspected links with militant groups.

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