Ilker Basbug's detention questioned



ANKARA - The arrest and detention of Turkey's former army chief for an alleged bid to topple the Islamist-rooted government raised concerns Saturday about judicial transparency and confronting the powerful military. Retired general Ilker Basbug was put behind bars after he was charged Friday by a special court with setting up and leading a terrorist group. "Naturally if there is a crime there should be judicial sanction. But to think that such a (well-known) personality could flee and so send him to prison is to flout the presumption of innocence," said commentator Rhat Mengi.

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