Critical ruling in Soma disaster: Case dismissed due to statute of limitations

The 11th Criminal Chamber of the İzmir Regional Court of Justice has reached a significant decision in the trial of public officials regarding the Soma mining disaster.

The court overturned the acquittal rulings and the decisions to defer the announcement of the verdict (HAGB) issued by the Soma 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on April 29, 2025. The ruling stated that the aforementioned acquittal verdicts were "not legally sound."

According to reports by Damla Kırmızıtaş from İlke TV, despite this finding, the appellate court did not rule for the defendants to be sentenced.

The court determined that the 8-year ordinary statute of limitations had expired in the cases filed against public officials for "misconduct in office." For this reason, it was decided that all public cases should be dismissed.

CASES AGAINST 16 DEFENDANTS CLOSED

With this decision, the public cases filed against Abdurrahman Başkaya, Ali Sağır, Ayhan Yüksel, Aysel Ertürk, Ercemal Atasoy, Hasan Yücel, Kasım Özer, Mehmet Arslantaş, Mehmet Göl, Veli Doğan, Emin Gümüş, Ersin Bulut, Ertan Gül, Gürol Alaca, Mehmet Tekelioğlu, and Mukadder Kavcar have ended due to the statute of limitations.

The court stated that the statute of limitations for these individuals had expired between 2020 and 2023.

The ruling also included evaluations regarding the applications made by the relatives of the miners who lost their lives.

The appellate court expressed the opinion that the families were "not directly harmed by the crime." While it was noted that the charges brought against the public officials were evaluated within the scope of "lack of supervision," the appeals filed by the families and their lawyers were rejected on the grounds that they "did not have the right to participate."

THE DECISION IS FINAL

The 11th Criminal Chamber of the İzmir Regional Court of Justice announced that its decision is final.

With this ruling, a significant portion of the trials concerning public officials in relation to the Soma disaster has been closed due to the statute of limitations.

News Source: 12punto