Worldstream

TURKEY: Turkish appeals court commutes death sentences for Islamic militants to life in prison

An appeals court on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of two Islamic militants for killing four prominent intellectuals in an alleged plan to establish an Islamic state in Turkey.

 In its ruling, the Ankara court upheld the original death sentences. But it immediately commuted the terms to life in prison, since Turkey abolished the death penalty in August as part of its bid to join the European Unon.

 Necdet Yuksel and Rustu Aytufan were sentenced to death in January for the slaying of journalist Ugur Mumcu, killed by a car bomb in 1993, and three other prominent secular writers and intellectuals during the 1990s.

 Mumcu, a columnist at the daily Cumhuriyet, was famous for investigating extremist right-wing and Islamic groups and the Turkish state's links with the underworld. Hundreds of thousands of people marched through Ankara after his death to demonstrate support for Turkey's secular regime and urge the government find the killers.

 The defendants were accused of membership in the Islamic extremist groups Tevhid-Selam and the Jerusalem Warriors. The groups were said to advocate replacing Turkey's strictly secular system with a state based on Islamic law.

 In its ruling Wednesday, the appeals panel of three judges approved 12 1/2 year prison terms for six other defendants for membership in an armed gang and attempting overthrow the state. The court ordered eight others to be retried, including Ferhan Ozmen who had been sentenced to death, because of insufficient evidence. Two defendants were acquitted.

 Police investigating the killings of Mumcu and the others alleged the groups received support from Iran. The Tehran government has strongly denied the claim.

 Investigations into the killings dragged on for years before a series of arrests were made in 2000. Many Turks doubted the accused were the real killers. The defendants said their confessions were coerced by torture.