Prosecutor’s Office Demands Life Imprisonment in Trial of Soldiers Fleeing to Greece

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In the lawsuit filed against the soldiers who participated in the attempted coup on July 15, 2016 and some of whom fled to Greece afterwards, the Public Prosecutor's Office has announced its opinion as to the accusations.

As it has been reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency, the Public Prosecutor's Office has demanded that one of the defendants be sentenced to life imprisonment aggravated for twice and nine defendants be sentenced to life imprisonment aggravated for once.

In its opinion, the Public Prosecutor's Office has also demanded that the files of eight defendants who fled to Greece be separated.

What happened?

After the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, eight soldiers fled to Alexandroupolis in Greece and requested asylum.

In their statements, the soldiers said that they were not informed about the coup attempt and acted on order and though they were assigned with taking the wounded from Aksaray, İstanbul on the coup night, they had to return to their military unit after a fire was opened on them. Soldiers added that they left their unit in the morning and decided to leave for Greece.

The arrested soldiers were released on June 4, 2018 after their 18-month period of arrest came to an end.

Despite the objections of the government, the Council of State in Greece granted asylum to Süleyman Özkaynakçı, one of the fugitive soldiers.

The requests of extradition raised by Turkey have been rejected by Greece for three times so far. (AÖ/SD)