ANKARA - In the October 10 Train Station Massacre Case, 10 defendants were sentenced to 101 times aggravated life imprisonment and 379 times 18 years each.
The verdict came out in the case where 103 people lost their lives and 391 people, including 20 children, were wounded on October 10, 2015 in Ankara during a peace rally at Train Station Square.
Ankara 4th High Criminal Court sentenced arrested defendants Yakup Şahin, Hakan Şahin, Resul Demir, İbrahim Halil Alçay, Hacı Ali Durmaz, Erman Ekici, Talha Güneş, Hüseyin Tunç, Metin Akaltın to 101 times aggravated life imprisonment each for "intentional killing of 100 people" and one time aggravated life imprisonment each for "disrupting the constitutional order". For the wounded, the court sentenced the same defendants to 379 times 18 years each for "attempted intentional killing".
The court acquitted Erman Ekici in the case, which the Court of Cassation pointed out should be sentenced for committing crimes against humanity. The court did not rule against the other defendants on this charge.
The court decided to continue the arrest warrant for 16 fugitive defendants and to separate the cases of these defendants.
BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
The indictment prepared by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on the October 10 attack was accepted by Ankara 4th High Criminal Court on July 13, 2016 and the first hearing was held on November 7, 2016.
As a result of the trial, the court concluded the case on August 3, 2018 and sentenced 9 defendants to 101 times aggravated life imprisonment, one each for "violating the constitutional order" and 100 times for "intentional killing of 100 people", and decided to separate the case against 16 fugitive defendants.
A criminal complaint was filed for the prosecution of the defendant Ekici, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for "leading an armed terrorist organization", on charges of "violating the constitutional order", "intentional killing of 100 people" and "attempted murder" for the complainants who were injured in the terrorist act.
The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation had partially overturned the case in terms of some defendants. The chamber also overturned the conviction of Ekici on charges of "establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization" and stated that Ekici should be tried for "intentional killing" and "crime against humanity".
During the trial, Ankara 4th High Criminal Court merged the case against Ekici, the case against 16 fugitive defendants and the case against 9 others, and the number of defendants in the trial increased to 26.