The trial was held at the Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court on Wednesday. Sixteen high-level officials of the terrorist organization were sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of “aiming to establish an Islamic state based on Shariah law by destroying the constitutional order of the Republic of Turkey.” Eight other defendants were released.
An additional eight group members were sentenced to between one and 12 years in jail. The case against two defendants was dropped because they died during the trial process.
The suspects were arrested during a police raid on Jan. 17, 2000, in a villa in the Beykoz area of İstanbul. The leader of Hizbullah, Hüseyin Velioğlu, was shot dead in the clash with police. The trial against the suspects started at the now-defunct State Security Court (DGM), which was abolished in 2004 within the scope of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. After the abolishment of the DGM, the trial was forwarded to the Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court.
Hizbullah is believed to have cooperated with the terrorist Ergenekon group and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on a number of criminal activities. Ergenekon is a clandestine organization accused of working to create an atmosphere of chaos with the ultimate motive of overthrowing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
Earlier this year, the Ergenekon probe revealed that a large amount of ammunition seized by police during past raids into homes of suspected members of the PKK and Hizbullah had been handed over to these groups by Ergenekon members.
