Indictment accepted regarding the landslide at the gold mine in İliç: Up to 15 years in prison requested

The investigation initiated by the İliç Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the landslide at the mine site in Çöpler village, which resulted in the deaths of Adnan Keklik, Kenan Öz, Ramazan Çimen, Uğur Yıldız, Abdurrahman Şahin, Fahrettin Keklik, Mehmet Kazar, Şaban Yılmaz, and Hüseyin Kara, who were buried under soil, and left İsa Taşdelen and İshak Demir injured, has been completed.

The 69-page indictment, accepted by the Erzincan 1st High Criminal Court, includes 5 defendants in custody—I.R.G, S.K.S, A.R.K, S.Ç., and Ö.A.—along with 38 defendants who are being tried without arrest.

The indictment includes records from the crime scene investigation and inspection, analysis results of soil and water samples, statements from victims, complainant testimony, forensic reports, death examination and autopsy reports, DNA reports from the Diyarbakır Forensic Medicine Group Presidency, expert reports, defendant statements, research and analysis reports prepared by law enforcement, training/embezzlement/health report documents, photographs, air emission measurement reports, radar images, blasting data, measurement results from the General Directorate of Meteorology, EIA (ÇED) permit documents, measurement results, laboratory test results, operating permits and licenses, documents related to work accident notifications, and soil sample results.

43 DEFENDANTS FOUND AT FAULT

The indictment, which details the developments before, during, and after the day the landslide occurred, states that a panel of experts specialized in such accidents and familiar with the literature submitted their reports on May 23 and June 7. Upon examination of these reports, it is noted that 43 defendants were found to be at fault, with 12 of them bearing primary responsibility and 31 bearing secondary responsibility.

The expert report included in the indictment concludes that environmental pollution occurred because limit values in relevant regulations were exceeded for certain parameters. Furthermore, research and analysis reports prepared by law enforcement regarding the examination of radar systems and camera recordings at the scene on the day of the incident and prior indicate that a color change began in the upper left part, which is considered the heap leach area, as of February 11, and that this color change clearly increased and intensified toward the lower parts by February 13.

HEARING TO BE HELD ON MARCH 17

The indictment records that the incident was a work accident under the legislation and that there was no element of inevitability in the accident. It notes that the project management mechanism was not established correctly or effectively, that a capacity increase was undertaken as Phase 4B, that there were design errors in the prepared projects, that project design criteria were insufficiently followed during the operational phase, that warning systems were inadequate, that there was no system to ensure effective management of the incident after cracks began to show warnings, and that obligations under the Mining and Environmental Laws were not fulfilled, resulting in a capacity increase on topography with much more unfavorable conditions following the construction of Phases 1, 2, and 3.

The indictment requests that all defendants be sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison for the crime of "causing death and injury by negligence." Additionally, for the Canadian manager of the company operating the gold mine at the time, I.R.G., as well as C.Y.D. and K.Ö., a judicial fine or a prison sentence of 2 months to 1 year is requested for the crime of "polluting the environment by negligence" if it leaves a permanent effect on the soil, water, or air.

It has been learned that the first hearing of the case will be held on March 17.