By Jonathan Head

BBC News, Istanbul

A trial in Turkey, which has lasted nearly 28 years, has finally concluded. A panel of judges found 39 of the 1,223 defendants guilty of trying to topple the government and constitution, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The charges against other defendants were dropped because of the time that had elapsed. They were all alleged members of an extreme left-wing organisation, Dev-Sol, who were arrested in the wake of the country's 1980 military coup. It will be of small comfort to the defendants - 13 of them have already died - but their trial has probably broken all records. Proceedings in court started on 15 March 1982. The defendants - all alleged members of Dev-Sol - were charged with offences ranging from putting up illegal posters to armed rebellion. Twenty-seven years and nine months later, the judges have finally reached a verdict - 39 of the defendants were given life sentences, although they will not actually serve any time, because they have already spent so long in jail. In the court in Istanbul were 22 of the defendants, together with children and grandchildren, most of whom were not born when the case began. The initial trial lasted 10 years - the case then went to the appeal court and sat there for 13 years because 100 folders of evidence had gone missing. The European Union has long been pressing Turkey to make improvements to its judicial system, as part of the country's bid for EU membership. If the EU needed a case to support its argument, it looks like it now has one.



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