Two PKK militants get life sentences for murder, attack in Turkey's west

İZMİR - Anadolu Agency

Two militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for killing three villagers in the country’s southeast in August 2012, before committing a bomb attack in the Aegean province of İzmir’s Foça district which killed two soldiers.

The two militants, identified as Yunus Çiçek and Hasan Deliktaş, detonated an improvised explosive device during the passage of a military shuttle in Foça on Aug. 9, 2012, killing two soldiers while wounding 10 others. 

The militants were also found guilty over the murder of three villagers on Aug. 9, 2012, in Foça. Çiçek said they killed one of the villagers, Bahri Şirin, because Şirin had seen them as they were hiding in some bushes. Then a member of the group killed two other villagers because the villagers had noticed blood spatters on him. It was also revealed that a person known as “Syrian Ahmet” prepared false identity papers for the militants, who were ordered not to be caught alive by their leaders. 

The militants were also found guilty of a landmine attack in the Viranşehir district of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa on Sept. 2, 2012. One police officer was killed in the attack, while two other security officials sustained wounds. 

A local court in İzmir sentenced Çiçek to six aggravated life sentences and 359 years and eight months of imprisonment while Deliktaş was sentenced to serve three aggravated life sentences in addition to 341 years and eight months of jail time. 

Accused of aiding and abetting the militants, two other militants, identified as Şevket and Şehmuz Rabindüz, were sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment each. Three others were set to serve over three years in jail while another three suspects were acquitted.