Arrested suspects to be tried in September over deadly ISIL suicide attack in Turkey’s Gaziantep

GAZİANTEP

The arrested suspects in the case into the deadly Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attack in the southeastern province of Gaziantep last year will be tried on Sept. 19 in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri, Doğan News Agency has reported.

A total of 56 people, including 40 children, were killed and another 87 were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a street wedding in the Şahinbey district of Gaziantep on Aug. 20, 2016.

The 20-folder dossier reviewed by the 5th Appeals Court was unanimously transferred to the high criminal court in Kayseri over public safety concerns.

The hearing will begin at the Kayseri 4th High Criminal Court on Sept. 19.

In March, the prosecutor of the case had demanded between four and 60 aggravated life sentences for nine arrested suspects – identified as Mehmet Şahin Erğan, Mehmet Çalıkuşu, Ahmet Köşgeroğlu, Ali Çalıkuşu, Fadile Cebael, Hacı Polat, Hasan Uzun, Mehmet Karakurt, Abdurrahman al-Naijar - on charges of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order,” “voluntary manslaughter,” “holding dangerous material,” and “being a member of an armed terror organization.”

The other two arrested suspects – identified as Enes Karataş and Yunus Sarı – were indicted for up to 10 years in prison on charges of “being a member of an armed terror organization.”

Separately, a local court in Gaziantep ordered the arrest of five ISIL suspects on June 29 who had been preparing “sensational attacks,” state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Counter-terrorism police detained some 11 suspects, including Syrian-origin suspects, in an operation in the province on June 16. Two of them had been released after giving their testimonies.

The Gaziantep court ordered the arrest of five suspects and the release of the other four, with one released on probation.

Two months after the wedding attack, three police officers were killed and 13 people were wounded when an ISIL militant blew himself up during an operation targeting the plotters of the attack.