New development in the Ebrar Sitesi trial where 68 citizens lost their lives in the earthquake

The hearing held at the 3rd High Criminal Court was attended by detained defendants Ahmet Doğan, Atilla Öz, Ferhat Bülent Özer, and Tevfik Tepebaşı via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS) from the prisons where they are being held.

Non-detained defendant Lütfi T. and the lawyers for the parties were present in the courtroom.

The court panel accepted the supplementary indictment prepared by the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for 11 deceased individuals and merged the files.

Detained defendant Tevfik Tepebaşı stated that he has 12 ongoing investigations and said, "Some segments and complainants call me a 'contractor.' I am not a contractor. One of my cases starts before the other ends, and I forget some of them. I request my acquittal by taking these into consideration."

Ferhat Bülent Özer also stated that he lost his relatives in the earthquake and that there is no one to look after his parents, requesting to be tried without detention.

The other defendants also repeated their previous defenses and requested their acquittal.

The court panel decided to release detained defendant Ferhat Bülent Özer, taking into account the time he has spent in detention and the information and documents added to the file between sessions, on the condition of a travel ban and signing in once a week.

The panel decided to maintain the current status of the other detained defendants and adjourned the hearing to July 11 to address missing information.

In the indictment prepared by the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, a prison sentence of up to 22 years and 6 months each was requested for 4 detained, 2 non-detained, and 1 fugitive defendant for the crime of "causing the death and injury of more than one person by conscious negligence."

News Source: AA