Prosecutors seek up to 22 years jail term for FETÖ members

Istanbul’s chief of public prosecutors submitted to a court an indictment against leading members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) in police department, a judicial source said.

The indictment sought 15 to 22 years jail terms for each 198 suspects, 181 of whom are in custody, the source, asked not to be named due to restriction on speaking to the media, said.

All defendants are charged of being executives of a rogue network -- also known as ‘covert imams’ -- in the police department, it said.

The legal paper was prepared by public prosecutors Can Tuncay and Mesut Erdinc Bayhan as part of probe against the suspects that started in April.

A 118-page indictment, submitted to 29th Istanbul Criminal Court, read 26 of suspects were public personnel.

Some 134 suspects are accused of using the ByLock messenger app, a piece of encrypted smartphone software used by FETÖ members to communicate. A total of 36 other suspects were identified as users of another encrypted smartphone software “Eagle”, the indictment read.

According to Turkey’s government, FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.