Some 74 defendants, all soldiers who joined the July 15, 2016 coup attempt by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment yesterday by a court in the capital Ankara.

The defendants were deployed at the Fourth Army Corps, a large military unit stationed in a sprawling military base in the Ankara suburbs. They were accused of sending tanks and other military vehicles to aid putschists to capture a building that houses the Ankara branch of the Turkish National Police on July 15, 2016.

The defendants also attempted to close main roads in Ankara to stop resistance against the coup and were implicated in the murder of civilians who tried to convince the putschists to lay down their arms.