Turkish court hands life sentences in plot to assassinate Erdogan

A number of suspects in last year’s plot to assassinate Turkey’s president on Wednesday were handed lengthy jail terms, including aggravated life sentences.

A court in Mugla, southwestern Turkey, heard the case of more than 40 suspects charged with attempting to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of the defeated July 15, 2016 coup.

Receiving four sentences apiece were former Brigadier General Gokhan Sahin Sonmezates, former Major Sukru Seymen, and former Master Sergeant Zekeriya Kuzu - the so-called "base imam" of Cigli’s 2nd Main Jet Base Command in the Aegean province of Izmir.

TRT World's Andrew Hopkins has this report.

Ankara accuses a network dubbed by the Turkish courts as the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), led by US-based Fetullah Gulen, of orchestrating the foiled coup attempt, which left at least 249 people dead and more than 2,000 others wounded.

The case involved 47 suspects, including 43 who were jailed pending trial and two suspects who remain at large, all charged with being part of the “assassination team” targeting Erdogan.

The first hearing was on February 20.

During the night of the coup attempt, two police officers were killed at Erdogan’s hotel in the Mediterranean port town of Marmaris.

That night Erdogan told the nation on live television he had narrowly escaped with his life when the hotel was bombed 15 minutes after he left the premises.

The government 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.