The suspects have been on trial for nearly two decades and were implicated in 69 acts, including the murder of retired generals Adnan Ersöz and Kemal Kayacan and Public Prosecutor Niyazi Fikret Aygen. The murders took place between 1990 and 1992.
The İstanbul 11th High Criminal Court, which heard the trial, delivered its verdict yesterday. Judges gave a life sentence without parole to both Galip Aygül and Erkan Koç for “attempting to destroy the constitutional order with coercion and violence.” The remaining 12 suspects were also sentenced to life in prison, but they have the right to appeal the verdict. This is the second time this court has issued these sentences, with the first having been overruled by the 9th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals.
Charges against defendants İbrahim Döğüş, Abdurrahman Kaykan, Perihan Sürücü, Alişan Yalçın, Rıza Demirel, Caferi Sadık Gökçe and Harun Kartal were dropped because they exceeded the statute of limitations, but the judges decided they should have been convicted of membership in a terrorist organization. Kamil Öcalan, another defendant, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison because he committed his crime on July 27, 1995.
