ISTANBUL - Ten people were sentenced on Thursday to life imprisonment on charges of being a member of the illegal, extreme leftist Dev-Sol organization, and on charges of being involved in attacks in which six policemen were killed and eight others were injured.
Five suspects out of 35, including Rasim Oztas, Sezgin Celik, Ismet Bulbul, Muammer Pakkan and Birol Abatay attended the hearing at Istanbul Criminal Court.
All the suspects asked the judges to release them.
However, the court sentenced ten suspects including Kenan Kahramanoglu, Halil Keskin, Ali Ekber Akkaya, Seyit Veysi Poyraz, Muammer Pakkan, Rasim Oztas, Ismet Bulbul, Birol Abatay, Halil Acar and Sezgin Celik to life imprisonment on charges of ''trying to change the constitutional order by force''.
The court dropped the case regarding Osman Osmanagaoglu, Mustafa Yilmaz, Safinur Teyzen and Mehmet Salgi as they had died, while ruled for ''lapse of time'' regarding 20 other suspects.
35 people were kept responsible for being involved in an armed attack staged in Haskoy on April 27th, 1992 in which one policeman was killed and eight others were injured; in another armed attack staged in Celiktepe on November 17th, 1992 in which four policemen were killed; and in another attack staged on April 23rd, 1992 in which one policeman was murdered.
(BRC-ULG) 28.10.2004