Ex-top judiciary official gets 15-year jail term in Turkey

The former secretary general of Turkey's top judiciary council Tuesday was sentenced to over a decade over terror charges, judicial sources said.

The penal department of the Supreme Court in the capital Ankara ruled 15-year jail term for Mehmet Kaya, the former head of Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), who was convicted of being a member of Fetullah Terrorist Group (FETO).

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Kaya, who was a fugitive, was arrested in Canakkale, a northwestern province of Turkey, as part of an investigation into FETO in February 2018.

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