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A protester wrapped in a Turkish flag sits in front of police forces blocking access to a courthouse in Silivri, near Istanbul, on August 5, 2013/AFP

World

Turkey court sentences ex-army chief to life in coup trial

The defendants faced dozens of charges, ranging from membership of an underground “terrorist organisation” dubbed Ergenekon to arson, illegal weapons possession, and instigating an armed uprising against Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in 2002.

Journalist and opposition MP Mustafa Balbay was handed 34 years and eight months, while another opposition deputy Mehmet Haberal had his sentence reduced and walked free given time already served.

Another 15 people were also convicted but immediately released, the private NTV television station said.

“This trial is purely political,” Balbay told an audience of MPs and journalists inside the heavily guarded court building ahead of the verdicts.

“Today it’s the government which is convicted, not us.”

The heavy sentences handed down to journalists sparked criticism from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), accusing European Union hopeful Turkey of violating free speech.

“I am deeply alarmed by today’s convictions and harsh sentences that are of unprecedented length and severity in the entire OSCE region,” OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatovic said.

“Criminal prosecution of those with dissenting views violates the fundamental human right to free expression and the country’s OSCE commitments to develop and protect free media,” Mijatovic added.

Basbug, 70, led Turkey’s military campaign against the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for many years, only to be accused in retirement of having led a terrorist group himself.

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In a Twitter post on Sunday, the former general described the trial as “a black stain on the glorious history of the Turkish state and its army”.

The verdicts, which were expected to be appealed, come after Turkey was rocked by mass protests in June that presented Erdogan’s government, seen as increasingly authoritarian, with its biggest public challenge since it came to power.

The mass coup plot trial has polarised the country, with Turkey’s secular opposition denouncing the lengthy proceedings, which began in 2008, as a witch hunt aimed at silencing government critics.

But pro government circles have praised the Ergenekon trial as a step towards democracy in Turkey, where the army violently overthrew three governments in 1960, 1971 and 1980.

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