Former Army Generals, Others On Trial For Coup Plot

More than 220 suspects, including over two dozen former generals, went on trial Monday accused of being among the ringleaders of last year’s attempted coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Furious protesters outside the court demanded the death penalty and flung rope nooses at the defendants as they were marched into the building handcuffed and held by the security forces.

Turkey blames the failed July 15 putsch on US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a claim he strongly denies and has launched a relentless purge against those deemed to have backed the plot.

Gulen is among 12 of the 221 suspects in the current trial who remain at large. The remainder appeared in court for the first time inside a prison complex in Sincan outside Ankara.

The suspects were paraded into the building by heavily-armed security forces forming two columns in front of television cameras.

Dozens of protesters holding Turkish flags booed at the suspects, with placards saying: “For the martyrs and veterans of July 15, we want the death penalty.”

“We want the death penalty, we don’t want them to be fed and housed here. We want these traitors to be buried without any flag,” said protester Cengiz Ozturk.

Turkey abolished the death penalty as part of its drive to join the European Union but Erdogan has on occasion indicated it could be reimposed to deal with the coup plotters.

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