Turk leftists jailed for life, 24 years after arrest

ANKARA, Oct 3 (Reuters) A Turkish court sentenced 20 left-wing militants to life in prison today for trying to overthrow the state, ending a case that has dragged on for more than two decades, a lawyer said.

The Ankara High Criminal Court sentenced 20 members of the leftist militant group Dev-Yol, or Revolutionary Path, to life in prison for their activities in the late 1970s. Two other members were given lighter sentences.

Defence lawyer Mehdi Bekdas told Reuters his clients would appeal against their sentences, and would remain free pending the outcome of their appeal.

Two of the militants received shorter sentences because they were under the age of 18 at the time of their arrest in 1982.

The defendants, members of a group that was one of Turkey's most violent in the 1970s, were among more than 700 militants arrested in 1982, two years after a military coup that aimed to end a wave of political violence shaking the country.

A court ordered their retrial in the late 1980s after the abolition of military courts.

The militants were later given death sentences, but these were commuted to life in prison in 2002, after Turkey abolished capital punishment as part of reforms demanded by the European Union, which it hopes to join.

The court ordered a fresh retrial because of the decision to scrap the death penalty.

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