Turkey sentences to life 400 soldiers for coup plot

ANKARA: A Turkish court sentenced hundreds of military and civilian personnel at an air base to life prison sentences on Friday, proclaiming them guilty of involvement in the 2016 failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

A total of 475 defendants, including some generals and fighter jet pilots at the Akinci air base, on the outskirts of the capital, Ankara, had been on trial for the past three years, accused of directing the coup and bombing key government buildings, including a section of Turkey’s parliament.