10 months after the failed 15 July coup attempt that traumatized the country, the suspected ringleaders of the armed conspiracy have, finally, gone on trial.<\/p>\n
Eager to overcome the detrimental effects of the coup attempt and the counter measures that followed, the country should have breathed a great sigh of relief.<\/p>\n
After all, what can be more effective than ensuring due process if you want to start returning to normality?<\/p>\n
More than 220 suspects, among them high-ranking military officers, have been brought before a court near Ankara. The prosecutors say they have damning evidence; as\u00a0 many suspects are said to be caught in the act of bloody uprising.<\/p>\n
Yet, nobody seems confident that the notion of Rule of Law is about to prevail. Public confidence in criminal justice seems to be at all-time low.<\/p>\n
It has been a tough, frustrating week for some who believe that the defendants are making a mockery of\u00a0\u00a0 the judicial system.<\/p>\n
Everyone on trial is accused of being a member of the Gulenist network, denoted as \u201cFET\u00d6\/PDY\u201d (Fethullah Terror Organization\/Parallel State Structures). So far, every one of the accused denied involvement and responsibility.<\/p>\n
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was furious. Addressing village and neighbourhood heads in his Presidential Palace on Thursday, Mr. Erdogan\u00a0 has asked<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cwho were they playing this game for?\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though they were caught red-handed, what are they [the suspects] now saying in court? The FET\u00d6 members who have been saying \u2018we have not seen or heard anything or spoken\u2019 and who have their head in the sand will not be able to escape the painful end that is waiting for them<\/em>\u00a0\u201d, Mr. Erdogan said.<\/p>\n Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, who has described<\/a> the Gulenists as \u201cthe most despicable terror organization he has ever seen, \u00a0complained that they were not \u201cman enough to own up to their failed coup\u201d.<\/p>\n