ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s state-run news agency says a Turkish court has sentenced dozens of people, including former soldiers attached to the presidential guard regiment, to life imprisonment over their involvement in the 2016 failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. A total of 497 defendants had been on trial since 2017, for attempting to seize the military headquarters, occupying the the state broadcaster, forcing a TV broadcaster to read out a statement on behalf of the coup-plotters. The massive trial, which ended Wednesday, was one of hundreds of of trials against suspected members of a network led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed attempt. Gulen, a former Erdogan ally, denies the accusation.
Turkey sentences dozens to life terms over 2016 failed coup
