ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says a United Nations judge has been convicted of membership in an extremist group.

A court in Ankara sentenced Aydin Sefa Akay, a Turkish national, to seven and a half years in prison for "membership in an armed terror group" Wednesday, according to Anadolu news agency. Akay, a retired ambassador and a sitting judge at the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, was accused of links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey claims Gulen was behind the bloody failed coup last summer. He denies the allegations.

Akay was arrested in September as part of a crackdown on alleged followers of the cleric, drawing criticism from the UN. Following the guilty verdict, the court ruled to release him under judicial control and barred him from leaving Turkey.