A former army chief and other top brass Turkish court was sentenced to life in prison on Monday in a high-profile trial of 275 people accused of plotting to overthrow the government

A former army chief and other top brass Turkish court was sentenced to life in prison on Monday in a high-profile trial of 275 people accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
  
Police fired tear gas at protesters outside the court in a town near Istanbul as the verdicts were being delivered in the highly-divisive case. Ex-military chief Ilker Basbug, along with several other army officers, were sentenced to life in prison, while 21 people were acquitted, according to the verdicts issued so far.
  
The trial has been seen as a key test in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's showdown with secularist and military opponents during his decade-long rule.
  
The defendants were on trial on dozens of charges, ranging from membership of an underground "terrorist organization" dubbed Ergenekon to arson, illegal weapons possession, and instigating an armed uprising against Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in 2002.