"We will try you too anyway," Hüseyin Güngör Babacan had told Supreme Court judges in an earlier hearing. Babacan, charged with being a member of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison yesterday by the judges he threatened. The judges ruled out a reduction in his sentence after his threat.

Babacan was a former member of the Supreme Court before he was dismissed from duty and arrested following a coup attempt by FETÖ on July 15, 2016.

He was among hundreds expelled from judiciary posts after investigations found their links to the terrorist group. Babacan rejected charges that his promotion to the Supreme Court upon was upon the instruction of FETÖ, which retained infiltrators in high places in the judiciary before the coup attempt.

Apart from the 2016 coup attempt, the terrorist group is blamed for two earlier attempts in 2013 by its infiltrators in law enforcement and the judiciary. It is known for its widespread infiltration of the army, law enforcement, the judiciary and bureaucracy.