Ten lawyers demand withdrawal from advocacy in ISIL Ankara bombing case

Mesut Hasan Benli – ANKARA

Ten lawyers appointed for 36 suspects linked to last year’s deadly Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) bomb attack in Ankara demanded to withdraw from the case on Nov. 7, in the first hearing at the Ankara courthouse, telling the court board they did not wish to work on the case.

Lawyers who were appointed by the Ankara Bar Association in accordance with the code of criminal procedure said they wanted to withdraw from defending the suspects. One of the lawyers said he wanted a more efficient lawyer from the bar for the suspect, while another said he did not believe the suspect would get objective judicial advocacy from his side, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Relatives of the suicide bomb attack victims supported the lawyers’ demand by applauding.

Ankara’s 4th Court of Serious Crimes board later ordered the Ankara Bar Association to provide new lawyers in the case.

In addition to the relatives of the victims, deputies from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were also among the observers of the case.

During the hearing, some observers chanted slogans against the suspects saying “Killers, you will be held accountable.”

Thirty-five of the suspects are Turkish, while one identified as Valentina Slobodjanjuk is a Kazakh citizen.

Meanwhile, police took strict measures in front of the courthouse during the hearing, while a number of roads to the courthouse were closed to traffic.

A total of 36 ISIL suspects face a total of up to 11,750 years in prison on charges of attempting to change the constitutional order and killing 100 people as well as possessing unlicensed weapons and explosive material within the scope of a terrorist organization’s activities, according to the indictment.

The Ankara bombing on Oct. 10, 2015, was the deadliest terror attack carried out in the country by the jihadist group, killing 103 people, including the two suicide bombers and wounding 391 others.

The attack occurred when the suicide bombers linked to ISIL targeted NGOs and political parties holding a peace rally outside the capital’s main train station.