A younger brother of Fethullah Gülen, a US-based Islamic cleric who is accused of orchestrating a 2016 coup in Turkey, was sentenced on Monday to 10 years, six months in prison on terrorism charges, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Despite accusations leveled by Turkish authorities, Fethullah Gülen and the movement he inspired deny any involvement in the abortive putsch; however, the Turkish government initiated a widespread purge targeting sympathizers of the movement.
Kudbettin Gülen, 65, who was first detained on Oct. 2, 2016, has been in pretrial detention in Turkey’s Denizli province since then.
He attended the final hearing of the trial in an İzmir court via video conference, denying the accusations directed at him and asking to be acquitted, adding that he has been suffering from health problems.
Two of Gülen’s nephews are also in jail as part of the crackdown on the movement.