Turkish appeals court overturns 'Ergenekon' coup plot convictions

Source: Reuters

Turkey's appeals court has overturned coup plot convictions imposed in 2013 on a retired military chief and scores of senior figures in a case then regarded as clipping the wings of the secularist and military establishment, state media said on Thursday.

The ruling closes the final chapter in a nine-year legal drama whose twists and turns have tracked the shifting balance of power at the heart of the Turkish establishment.

In August 2013, ex-military chief General Ilker Basbug was sentenced to life in jail for his role in the "Ergenekon" plot to overthrow then-Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government.

Politicians, lawyers and journalists were also among 275 defendants in the case, which emerged in 2007 when an arms cache was discovered in a house in an Istanbul suburb.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-coup-trial-idUSKCN0XI1WS