Turkish commander jailed for blast that killed seven soldiers

ANKARA

Six years jail term has been given to Brig Gen Zeki Es for his negligence. Hürriyet photo

Brigadier General Zeki Es, who was tried for his alleged role in a mine blast in Turkey’s eastern province of Hakkari that killed seven soldiers in 2009, has been handed a prison sentence of six years and eight months for “causing the death of more than one person and the injury of two people through negligence.”

During the latest trial of the case, which was held at the Military Court of the General Staff on April 19, court president Mehmet Yüzbaşıoğlu announced the verdict. Es was originally given a six month and 20 day prison sentence for “ordering subordinates to commit an offense.” He was found not guilty of “arranging and submitting a report contrary to the truth.”

Meanwhile, another defendant in the case, Major General Gürbüz Kaya, was released on the grounds that he was not proven guilty as charged for “not taking legal proceedings for the offense of their subordinates.”

On May 28, 2009, seven soldiers were killed as a result of a mine blast laid on a road in Hakkari’s Çukurca district. Some phone conversations of Zeki Es found in the official records of the General Staff Electronic Systems Command (GES) were made public, in which Es confessed to Maj. Gen Kaya that he was the one who had laid the mines. Then, a lawsuit was filed in a military court against the suspects. Within the case, Es was arrested for a period of time, before being released pending trial.