1 Jul. () –
An Ankara court on Monday sentenced ten suspected Islamic State militants to life in prison for the attack outside the city’s main train station in October 2015, which left 101 dead.
The court sentenced nine of them – Yakub Sahin, Hakan Sahin, Haci Ali Durmaz, Halil Ibrahim Alçay, Resul Demir, Huseyin Tunç, Talha Gunes, Abdulmuttalip Demir and Metin Akaltin – to life imprisonment for aggravated intentional homicide in the context of the activities of a terrorist organisation.
Another militant, Erman Ekici, has been sentenced to multiple life sentences for attempted murder in connection with the activities of an armed terrorist organization, possession of explosives and possession of unlicensed weapons, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported.
The ten were already sentenced in 2018 to 101 life sentences – one for each victim – although the families’ defence appealed the decision to add other crimes against the accused, such as crimes against humanity, for which a second trial was held. Ekici has been acquitted of this crime.
The vast majority of the victims were Kurdish activists who had attended a rally near the station. The attack also took place just 20 days before the country’s presidential elections.
Turkey decided to intervene in the fight against Islamic State in Syria shortly after another terrorist attack took place in which 57 Kurds lost their lives due to the activation of a car bomb during a Kurdish wedding.
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