Turkey’s ex-army chief sentenced to life at coup trial

A Turkish court has sentenced former armed forces chief Ilker Basbug to life imprisonment for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government.

The court is announcing the verdicts individually Monday in the trial of 275 people, including military officers, politicians, academics and journalists, in the landmark and divisive case about an alleged conspiracy to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. 

Gen Basbug, who led the military between 2008 and 2010, had rejected all the charges against him.

The verdicts were being announced individually on Monday. Verdicts on other high-profile defendants were yet to be announced.

Prosecutors say an alleged network of secular arch-nationalists pursued extrajudicial killings and bombings in order to trigger a military coup and overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

Security forces have blocked access to the tribunal in the town of Silivri near Istanbul, allowing in only suspects, lawyers and journalists. 

The rulings cap a five-year trial that has been a central drama in tensions between the country’s secular elite and Erdogan’s Islamic-oriented AKP party. 

While prosecutors say the defendants are guilty of varying levels of involvement in the alleged plot, critics say the legal proceeding has been a ploy to intimidate opponents and critics of the government. 

In September 2012, the court in Silivri sentenced more than 300 military officers to jail on charges of plotting to overthrow Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2003.

Turkey’s military has long seen itself as the guarantor of the country’s secular constitution.

It staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and has a history of tension with the AKP.

The AKP is considered a successor to the Welfare Party, an Islamist party that led a 1996-97 government forced to resign by an army-led campaign.

The international community has voiced concern about the trial. The U.S. State Department’s annual human rights report cited the prolonged pretrial detention of many of the defendants. Human Rights Watch has also criticized the case, saying there are serious concerns about the fairness of the trial.

Source: Agencies / THE TIMES OF EARTH