General Kenan Evren, 96, who came to symbolise the “Pasha” officer class that dominated Turkish politics over decades, was sentenced to life in jail yesterday for leading a 1980 coup that resulted in widespread torture, arrests and deaths.

Evren, who also served as president after three years of military rule, never expressed regret for the coup which he always argued ended years of left-right street fighting that killed thousands.

Fifty people were executed by the military, thousands more were arrested and hundreds disappeared.

Too frail to attend court, Evren was sentenced to life in prison along with former air force chief Tahsin Sahinkaya, 89. Both were accused of setting the stage for an army intervention, then conducting the coup.