Turkish court condemns army officials in potentially flawed trial

http://www.economist.com/node/21563782?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/historictrial

An Istanbul security court distributed sentences of six to twenty years to three hundred twenty five officers over an alleged coup attempt against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK party in 2003.  The trial was celebrated as historical, as it was the first time the civilian government had charged members of the military.  This is especially significant for Turkey's fairly unstable democratic state, which as suffered military intervention on four different occasions.  Despite this, many parties have suggested the trial was corrupt, with the sole modicum of evidence against the officers being a CD containing information about the coup attempt.  The defense's key witnesses were never heard, and the data disc cited companies that did not exist at the alleged time the coup plot was hatched.  The defense will most likely appeal to a higher court, which could eventually lead them to the European Court of Human Rights.  

Andrew DuBois