Some 500 suspects on trial in Turkey’s biggest coup case

PanARMENIAN.Net – Nearly 500 people appeared in court Tuesday, August 1 in the biggest trial yet of suspects from Turkey’s failed coup, facing charges of conspiring to oust the government from an air base seen as the plotters’ hub, AFP reports.

A total of 486 suspects have been indicted in the case and almost all the suspects — a total of 461 — are held in custody while seven are still on the run and the remainder charged but not in jail.

Some of those held were marched into the court outside Ankara one-by-one in a long line in front of the television cameras and public, with each suspect held by two members of the Turkish gendarmerie and flanked by an armed soldier.

People chanted “we want the death penalty!” and some threw nooses towards the suspects. The death penalty has been abolished in Turkey since 2004.

There were also chants of “martyrs don’t die, the nation won’t be divided”. Some people threw water bottles, an AFP reporter said.

Full story: panarmenian.net

PanARMENIAN Network