Turkey sentenced a prominent businessman to life in prison for attempting to topple the government in a case seen by its Western allies as a test of judicial independence.
A criminal court in Istanbul convicted businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala on charges of conspiring to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a failed 2016 coup, as well as for allegedly financing and organizing the nationwide anti-government protests that started at the Gezi Park in Istanbul in 2013. Kavala, who has been in jail for more than four years, was acquitted on charges of espionage.
The court also sentenced seven other activists to as long as 18 years in prison on charges of aiding to to overthrow the government, ordering their immediate arrest.
