The İstanbul 30th High Criminal Court handed down three aggravated life sentences to each of two defendants after their conviction of violating the constitution and the first degree murder of two people during the night of a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
The defendants had invaded the Borsa İstanbul stock exchange building that evening and were involved in the murder of Mehmet Şevket Uzun and Fatih Satır.
Fifteen defendants were present at the hearing, seven of whom were in pretrial detention and six previously released. One defendant is still at large.
The court also decided to release five of the jailed defendants, ruling that there was no need to punish them further, which, according to the judge, did not constitute an acquittal.
“You weren’t involved in the act, but it was an important criterion that you also didn’t avoid the act. I wish you had resisted and stopped what happened,” the presiding judge, Utku Ercan, told the defendants.
He also commemorated the martyrs and wounded from the night of July 15, 2016, saying this case was the last one they had to hear regarding the coup attempt and that the court has brought the putschists to justice.
According to the Justice Ministry, in the trials related to the coup attempt 636 suspects received aggravated life sentences, while 888 were handed life sentences and 653 were given jail sentences varying from one year, two months to 20 years.