New development in the Ezgi Apartment case! Report rejected

The trial continues for the Ezgi Apartment, which became a grave for 35 people in the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes that occurred on February 6 last year.

In the case, the court decided to release the detained defendant Mehmet Tekin, appoint a new expert panel, and rejected the request for a red notice for Sami Kervancıoğlu and Mustafa Pekel.

IT HAD BECOME A GRAVE FOR 35 PEOPLE

The trial of 5 defendants, two of whom are detained, one non-detained, and two fugitives, regarding the deaths of 35 people in the Ezgi Apartment continued.

Detained defendant Mehmet Tekin, non-detained defendant Yakup A., as well as plaintiffs and lawyers for the parties were present at the hearing. The other detained defendant, Ertan Danacı, also attended the hearing from the prison where he is held via the Audio and Video Information System (SEGBİS).

"FIRST CALCULATIONS WILL BE MADE, THEN THE PROJECT WILL BE DESIGNED"

At the request of those who lost their relatives in the earthquake, the presiding judge heard civil engineer Şeref Alpago as an expert witness during the hearing.

Explaining the deficiencies and errors he identified in the Ezgi Apartment building, Alpago stated the following:

"If you claim to have performed steel reinforcement without calculations or a project, you may find that a building that would not have collapsed did so because of the reinforcement. We need to think twice when talking about reinforcement. First, calculations will be made, then the project will be prepared, and it will be approved. You cannot perform reinforcement by saying, 'I put two profiles here.' This is a truly major mistake, a very major crime. The first question that comes to my mind is this; why are the other buildings still standing? The ground is the same, the construction periods are the same, the materials used are almost the same. While this building collapsed in 8 seconds, even though other buildings should have sustained moderate or heavy damage, their windows did not even shatter. Therefore, there is something else here. All of the shear walls where the damage occurred are load-bearing. This also needs to be clarified. A load-bearing element does not have to go from bottom to top. In other words, saying 'the column on the mezzanine floor does not go up, so it is not load-bearing' is to be devoid of engineering literacy."

Detained defendants Ertan Danacı and Mehmet Tekin also denied the accusations and requested their acquittal.

Non-detained defendant Yakup A. claimed that he used ready-mixed concrete in the Ezgi Apartment and that he was the first to use ready-mixed concrete in Kahramanmaraş.

Plaintiff lawyers stated that the expert report entered into the file on July 31 contradicted the expert report obtained during the investigation phase and requested that the file be sent back to an expert. The lawyers also reiterated their requests for a red notice to be issued for fugitive defendants Sami Kervancıoğlu and Mustafa Pekel at this hearing.

In his opinion, the public prosecutor requested the continuation of the defendants' current status and for the file to be sent back to an expert.

RED NOTICE REQUEST REJECTED

Defense lawyers, on the other hand, argued that the latest expert report was scientific in nature and opposed the request to send the file back to an expert. They also requested that the red notice requests for the fugitive defendants be rejected and that the arrest warrants for Sami Kervancıoğlu and Mustafa Pekel be lifted.

Taking into account the time spent in detention and the information and documents added to the file between sessions, the court panel decided to release detained defendant Mehmet Tekin on the condition of a travel ban and signing in twice a week.

The panel, which decided to refer the file to a new expert panel and for the other defendants to remain in their current status, rejected the request to issue a "red notice" for Sami Kervancıoğlu and Mustafa Pekel.

The hearing was adjourned to December 13.