Istanbul court docket sentences TV preacher to eight,658 years in jail | World News

An Istanbul court docket Wednesday sentenced a Muslim televangelist who surrounded himself with scantily clad girls he known as "kittens" to eight,658 years in jail in a retrial, native media reported.

Adnan Oktar led tv programmes surrounded by girls carrying a number of make-up and little garments as he preached creationism and conservative values.

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Final 12 months, the 66-year-old was sentenced to 1,075 years for crimes together with sexual assault, sexual abuse of minors, fraud and tried political and army espionage.

However that ruling was overturned by an higher court docket.

In the course of the retrial, Istanbul excessive felony court docket sentenced Oktar to eight,658 years in jail on a number of expenses together with sexual abuse and depriving somebody of their liberty, the Anadolu information company reported.

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The court docket additionally sentenced 10 different suspects to eight,658 years in jail every, the company stated.

Oktar, whom critics see because the chief of a cult, gained notoriety for his programmes on the web A9 tv channel and had repeatedly been denounced by Turkey's spiritual leaders.

In a significant crackdown on his group, he was taken into custody in Istanbul in 2018 as a part of a probe by town's police monetary crimes unit.