Turkey Coup Trial: Court Sentences 104 Army Plotters to Life

TEHRAN (Defapress)-The former military personnel were given "aggravated life sentences" by a court in the Western province of Izmir on Monday for "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order", Anadolu Agency reported.

Such prison sentences, which replaced the death penalty in Turkey, carry harsher conditions than normal life sentences.

In total, 280 military staff are on trial over the failed coup bid.

Among the suspects receiving life sentences were former air force chief of staff lieutenant general Hasan Hussein Demiraslan and ex-Aegean army command chief of staff major general Memduh Hakbilen.

The court gave 21 suspects a 20-year jail sentence for "assisting the assassination of the president", while 31 were given sentences between seven years and six months and 10 years and six months for being a member of an armed "terror" group, the agency added.

The attempted coup claimed more than 240 lives, according to the Turkish presidency, not including the coup-plotters. More than 2,000 people were injured in the incident.

Ankara accuses US-based Muslim religious leader Fethullah Gulen of ordering the failed coup, while he denies the accusations.

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