New development in the Santa Maria Church attack

The indictment prepared against 43 suspects, including the attackers and the planner of the attack, 32 of whom are in custody, regarding the armed attack on the Santa Maria Italian Church in Sarıyer, has been accepted.

The indictment, prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against a total of 43 suspects—including Tajik national Amirjon Kholiqov and Russian national David Tanduev, who were among the ISIS terrorists responsible for the death of a citizen named Tuncer Cihan during the armed attack on the Santa Maria Italian Church in Sarıyer, Istanbul, on January 28, 2024, as well as Viskhan Soltamatıov, who was arrested on September 17 on allegations of being among the planners of the attack—has been accepted by the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court to which it was sent.

REQUESTED 2 AGGRAVATED LIFE SENTENCES AND UP TO 349.5 YEARS IN PRISON EACH

In the indictment, 3 people are listed as victims, and 11 people, including the church's priest Anton Bulai, are listed as 'complainants'.

For the detained suspects who carried out the attack, David Tanduev and Amirjon Kholiqov, as well as Viskhan Soltamatıov, who was arrested on allegations of being one of the planners of the attack and subsequently added to the indictment, and Edelkhan Inazhaev and his wife Zharaidat Esmurzieva, who were determined to be connected to these suspects, it is requested that they be sentenced to 2 aggravated life sentences each and between 218 years and 7 months to 349 years and 6 months in prison for the crimes of 'attempting to abolish the order envisaged by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey by using force and violence', 'being a member of the armed terrorist organization ISIS', 'premeditated murder' of Tuncer Cihan, 'attempted premeditated murder' of 11 people, and 'possession of firearms and ammunition'.

In the indictment, 2 aggravated life sentences and between 217 years and 1 month to 345 years in prison were requested for 20 other suspects for similar crimes.

It was also requested that the suspect Inazhaev be sentenced to between 3 and 7.6 years in prison for the crime of 'forgery of official documents'. For 18 of the suspects, prison sentences of 7.5 to 15 years each are requested solely for the crime of 'being a member of the armed terrorist organization ISIS'.

IT HAD BEEN RETURNED PREVIOUSLY

The indictment, which was sent to the Istanbul 16th High Criminal Court, had previously been returned on the grounds that it contained deficiencies. The prosecution sent the indictment back to the court after addressing the missing points in the indictment.

Following its review, the court decided to accept the indictment. The defendants will appear before the judge in the coming days.