Turkey seeks life sentences over Erdogan ‘assassination bid’

Turkish prosecutors are demanding multiple life sentences for 47 people suspected of leading a coup, saying they sought to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a plot he says left him 15 minutes from death, state media says.

Erdogan, who was holidaying at a hotel in the upmarket Aegean resort of Marmaris with his family on the night of the July 15 coup, had rushed to Istanbul by plane to escape the conspiracy.

Forty-seven suspects — 44 of whom are under arrest while three are on the run — have been charged with 17 different crimes including an “attempt to assassinate the president,” the state-run Anadolu news agency says.

Prosecutors have sought six life sentences for each of the suspects, who include an alleged “assassination team” of 37 soldiers suspected of seeking to execute the plan.

No date has yet been given for the start of the trial.

— AFP

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a NATO parliamentary assembly meeting in Istanbul, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. (Kayhan Ozer, Presidential Press Service, Pool photo via AP)
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a NATO parliamentary assembly meeting in Istanbul, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. (Kayhan Ozer, Presidential Press Service, Pool photo via AP)

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