A court in central Turkey sentenced former colonel Ömer Kulaç to four instances of life imprisonment Tuesday. Kulaç, who was found to be the owner of a popular fake account on Twitter, was appointed as the "martial law commander" for the central province of Kırşehir by putschists during last year's coup bid blamed on a junta loyal to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). He was captured after a shootout with police who stopped him at a checkpoint as he was driving to the province from Istanbul, apparently to assume the military command on behalf of putschists. Kulaç had refused to present his defense in earlier hearings, claiming he did not receive "documents regarding the trial" in a bid to prolong the proceedings like other defendants do in coup trials across Turkey.

Kulaç was discovered to be the holder of the "Analizi Harbiyeli" Twitter account popular for its analysis on terrorist groups. His last messages before his arrest was "I am new martial law commander, come take me if you dare" and it was followed by another message reading "I don't know what's going on."