Turkey sentences three generals to life over coup

Updated 6:28pm: A Turkish court on Friday gave life sentences to three ex-generals accused of plotting to overthrow the government before commuting them to 20-year terms on the grounds that the alleged plot failed, NTV television reported.

The three chief suspects in the alleged 2003 coup plot, including Cetin Dogan, former commander of the First Army and dubbed the "mastermind" behind the plot, will each serve 20 years in prison, the private television channel said.

The landmark verdict is the first from a series of trials over alleged plots by the once-dominant Turkish army, responsible for four coups in half a century.

The two-year-long case wrapped up at the court in Silivri, near Istanbul, which heard Friday the final testimonies of the last suspects in the so-called "Sledgehammer" trial, named after a 2003 military exercise.

(AFP)