Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of 31 soldiers sentenced to life in prison over their alleged involvement in a 2016 coup attempt, leading to their release, Turkish Minute reported on Thursday.
In 2018 the İstanbul 27th High Criminal Court handed down sentences for the soldiers’ alleged involvement in the attempted coup, including the killing of six people, among them Mete Sertbaş, the local administrator of the Acıbadem neighborhood.
The court sentenced several senior military personnel to aggravated life imprisonment for violating the constitution and murder, while privates received life sentences for the same charges.
The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the life sentences for the 33 soldiers convicted of violating the constitution.
After the ruling, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals appealed the decision, requesting that the convictions be overturned on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to support the accusations.
After reviewing the case file, the top court upheld the objection on Wednesday, overturning the convictions of 31 privates and ordering their release.
The court will later decide the cases involving the remaining two privates.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that claimed the lives of 251 people and was suppressed overnight.
Many privates and other low-ranking soldiers as well as military cadets were caught up in the incident, deployed by their commanders who in some instances led them to believe that they were acting against an anticipated terrorist attack.
Immediately after the abortive putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement, a faith-based group they also label as a terrorist organization. The movement strongly denies involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.
