10 defendants receive aggravated life sentence for ISIS massacre in Ankara

A Turkish court has sentenced 10 defendants to aggravated life in prison over the Ankara Train Station Massacre that claimed 103 lives nine years after it took place. Defendant Erman Ekici has been acquitted of the charge of crimes against humanity but received an aggravated life sentence.

Monday July 01 2024 05:52 pm

This file photo shows a commemoration of the massacre.

Duvar English

An Ankara court sentenced 10 defendants to aggravated life in prison over the Ankara Train Station Massacre that claimed 103 lives.

Moreover, the defendants received 18 years imprisonment 379 times each over attempted murder.

Ankara 4th High Criminal Court acquitted Erman Ekici of the charge of crimes against humanity, but he received an aggravated life sentence. Ekici is a defendant against whom an indictment was prepared for the first time in Turkish legal history on the charge of crimes against humanity.

The court also decided to separate the case against the fugitive defendants.

Commenting on the decisions, victims’ lawyer İlke Işık told the daily Evrensel that the court “acquitted ISIS with its verdict” for not sentencing the defendants over crimes against humanity.

The suicide bomb attack struck on October 10, 2015, during the “Labour, Peace and Democracy" rally held at the Ankara Train Station Square, becoming the deadliest terror attack in Turkey with 103 casualties and over 500 injured. The victims were largely supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

The attack was attributed to ISIS, however, opposition figures have maintained the neglect of the Turkish Intelligence Agency and security forces was decisive in the magnitude of the massacre.

The victims families complained that no official responsible for the massacre had yet stood trial.

The first verdict of the case was announced in 2018, but the Court of Cassation, Turkey’s highest appeals court, overturned some of the decisions. The court also overturned the conviction of Ekici on charges of “establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization”, arguing Ekici should be tried for “intentional killing” and “crimes against humanity.”

During the re-trial, Ankara 4th High Criminal Court merged the case against Ekici, the case against 16 fugitive defendants, and the case against nine others, and the number of defendants in the trial increased to 26.