Prosecutor seeks life sentences in 2015 Ankara attack trial
ANKARA – Anadolu Agency
A prosecutor has demanded aggravated life sentences for nine suspects on charges of voluntary manslaughter and breaching the constitution in a trial for the deadly 2015 Ankara train station attack.
The prosecutor said the attack was carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), describing it as a “merciless” and “brutal” act.
The prosecutor also sought a total of 11,730-year jail sentence for each suspect on charges of attempting to kill 391 people, including 20 children.
The court is trying a total of 36 suspects in connection with the Ankara attack.
Representatives from labor unions, plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ lawyers attended the court hearing held on June 12.
Özge Işık, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, claimed that three of the suspects had been under police surveillance since 2014 in the southeastern province of Gaziantep and an arrest warrant had been issued for one of those three individuals in Istanbul back in 2013.
Işık claimed that certain intelligence information have been hidden by officials.
Gülşah Kaya, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, claimed that some officials had failed to prevent the attack, accusing officials of negligence.
The Ankara bombing was the deadliest terror attack carried out in Turkey by ISIL, with suicide bombers targeting NGOs and supporters of left-wing parties holding a peace rally outside the capital’s main train station, weeks ahead of the Nov. 1, 2015 general election. The attack left 102 people dead.
